A Michael Jordan trading card from his final championship season with the Chicago Bulls has established a new benchmark for one of the hobby’s most coveted card lines.
A 1997-98 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems Red Jordan sold for $1,473,989 through Alt, the collectibles marketplace announced. Alt called it the most expensive PMG card ever sold at auction, regardless of player or year.
The sale does not make it the most expensive Jordan card ever. It does, however, put a new price at the top of a category that has become synonymous with high-end 1990s basketball collecting.
The record-setting card is No. 052/100 and graded BGS 8, with Alt listing a Beckett population of 11 at that grade.
Why Michael Jordan’s 1997-98 PMG Is So Valuable
The original Precious Metal Gems issue was built differently from many modern parallels carrying an /100 serial number.
PSA says each card in the 1997-98 Metal Universe PMG set was numbered to 100, but the first 10 copies received green foil while the remaining 90 were red. That effectively made Jordan’s Red PMG a 90-card version, with the Green PMG representing the extraordinarily scarce first 10 copies.
Condition adds another layer of scarcity.
PSA notes that the foil used on the cards has a tendency to flake and chip. That means surviving copies do not merely have to overcome a tiny original print run; collectors also have to contend with a card design that is inherently difficult to preserve in elite condition.
And Jordan’s card carries another obvious connection to basketball history: the 1997-98 season ended with his sixth championship and final NBA title with the Bulls.
The combination is difficult to replicate: Jordan, the final Bulls championship season, a landmark 1990s design and an original supply measured in dozens rather than thousands.
Jordan PMG Sale Clears Recent $640,500 Result
The $1.47 million result also represents a significant jump from another public Jordan Red PMG sale earlier this year.
Goldin sold a 1997-98 Jordan PMG Red No. 060/100 graded PSA 5 for $640,500 on March 7, 2026.
The grades make a direct dollar-for-dollar comparison imperfect. But taken together, the two results show what the market is currently willing to pay for surviving examples of Jordan’s original Red PMG, including copies well below conventional Gem Mint grades.
That is an important wrinkle with cards from this particular set. A BGS 8 or PSA 5 might sound modest compared with the PSA 10s that dominate headlines for other cards, but the fragile PMG surface changes the condition equation considerably.
For collectors, scarcity is not simply printed on the back of the card. It also comes from how many examples survived nearly three decades in strong condition.
$1.47 Million Is a PMG Record — Not Jordan’s Overall Card Record
Jordan remains attached to much larger prices elsewhere in the card market.
In August 2025, a one-of-one 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs card featuring Jordan and Kobe Bryant sold through Heritage Auctions for $12.932 million. That sale established the record for a sports card at the time.
That context makes the new PMG result more precise rather than less impressive.
The Red PMG has no autograph, no game-used Logoman patch and no one-of-one designation. It comes from an era before those features became central to ultra-premium basketball cards.
Its appeal rests largely on something different: an iconic player, an exceptionally limited 1990s parallel and the difficulty of finding one in strong condition.
Nearly three decades after SkyBox produced it, that formula was enough for one Michael Jordan card to command almost $1.5 million, and establish a new ceiling for the Precious Metal Gems name.
Michael Jordan Card From Bulls’ Final Title Season Sets PMG Record