For 25 years, they sat in a closet in the Lavi family home in the Tel Aviv area alongside blankets, old books and a suitcase – two valuable
collector’s items: an original Air Jordan 1 sneaker and a baseball mitt,
both belonging to basketball legend Michael Jordan. On Monday, they
were finally sold at a public auction in the U.S., with the help of the
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The Lavi family told Haaretz sports writer Elad Zeevi about the items for the first time in May, recounting how they had originally
acquired them, back in late 1994. Juanita Jordan, who had wanted to
surprise her megastar husband for his 32nd birthday, got in touch with
the Lavis – whose business was known for producing silver-plated, 3-D
reproductions of items – about reproducing the sneaker and baseball
glove as a gift. Ten silver-plated copies were eventually produced and
sold at auction but the originals remained in the hands of the
Israelis.“My father was a partner in a factory that made things using
electroform silver in the 1980s and 1990s,” explained Dan Lavi, current
owner of the Rashbel company, which sells equipment and materials for
making jewelry. At the time Rashbel’s technology to reproduce
three-dimensional objects in silver was unique. “One day we received an
order by fax to make a shoe and baseball mitt in silver. They didn’t say
who it was for. My father asked them to send a sample, saying he would
see what could be done. If it were possible, we’d quote a price, he told
the sender.”
So how much did the items sell for? The sneaker was sold as part of Dallas-based Heritage Auctions’ June 14th sports catalog for $31,000 and
the mitt for $21,000.
Jonathan Scheier, senior consignment and cataloger of sports memorabilia at Heritage Auctions, told Haaretz last month that thanks to
the popularity of the Netflix show, the market for Jordan’s memorabilia
had skyrocketed. Scheier added that several factors determine the value
of such items – for example, whether Jordan actually wore them in a
game. It was clear that the glove and sneaker the Lavis had had belonged
to the star, and the fact that they were used for making rare silver
reproductions, Scheier predicted, would definitely interest serious
collectors.
