2024-08-03 13:07:42
A piece of wood sells for a high price. The personal locker of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who died in 2020, sold for $2.9 million at auction on Friday. The items were used in his Los Angeles Lakers locker room.
The auction lasted ten days on the Internet, and the item was displayed at the New York headquarters of Sotheby’s, which is owned by French-Israeli and Moroccan billionaire Patrick Drahi. By the end of the auction, the price had risen by $750,000 to $2.9 million, while Sotheby’s estimated the locker to be worth between $1 and $1.5 million.
A piece of furniture discovered in 2018
“This amount is a testament not only to Kobe’s enduring legacy, but also to the exceptional nature of this piece of sporting goods,” said Brahm Wachter of the auction house in a press release. The wooden piece of furniture features a small plaque with the word “Bryant” in capital letters, bearing witness to iconic moments in the player’s career, such as his record-breaking 81 points in a single game in 2006, or the headline of the NBA’s celebration in 2010 that saw champagne flow freely in the locker room.
According to Sotheby’s, photographic documentation proves the authenticity of the furniture from the 2003-2004 season to 2015-2016, the year of its retirement. According to Sotheby’s, the furniture was discovered during the renovation of the Staples Center in Los Angeles in 2018 and was subsequently purchased by an “American collector.”
A jersey worth $5.8 million
After Bryant, 41, died in a helicopter crash in California in January 2020, his sports legacy soared to all-time highs on the auction market, with a jersey of the Los Angeles Lakers icon fetching $5.8 million in 2023.
Sporting goods heritage is a booming area for art auction houses. In May 2022, Sotheby’s sold a Diego Maradona jersey worn by Maradona in the legendary 1986 World Cup quarter-final, when the Argentine nailed England with two goals, one of which was a handball, for $9.3 million. To date, it is the most expensive football jersey ever sold at auction.
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