Sale report · graded 28 June and 8 July 2026
Four public calls. Three landed. The fourth missed by enough to teach me something I've used on every call since.
The same shoe sold for $70,000 at the Sotheby's Curry auction. It made $48,800 here — down 30% on a repeat sale, which is a rare thing to be able to see.
Highest watcher count in the sale at 109. The demand showed up before the money did.
Just inside the top of the band. Volatile tier, and I said so going in.
Called $70,000–120,000. Sold for $207,400.
I anchored the LeBron to one comp — a Grey Flannel jersey at $60,082 — and underweighted everything the lot description was actually telling me.
It wasn't just a Cavs jersey. It was a buzzer-beater, in a triple-double, in the first game he ever went top-20 all-time in points, assists and steals. Three separate hooks, any one of which would carry a lot on its own.
The lesson, and I've applied it since: three or more narrative hooks means the comp is a floor, not a ceiling.
The other thing this sale gave me was the watcher count. Kobe pulled 109 watchers — highest in the sale — and cleared a premium. The number told me the demand was there before the bidding did. I read watchers alongside the hammer now, never on their own.