My Friend Found a 90s Michael Jordan Grail Card In His Childhood Binder
This is the story of my friend finding a 90s Michael Jordan grail card in one of his childhood binders. Little did I know that this rare gem would become one of the most exciting moments of my collecting journey. What followed was a rollercoaster of excitement, offers, and ultimately, a reminder of what makes the hobby so special.
Like most collectors, I’ve grown accustomed to regular texts from non-hobby friends with pictures of their childhood collections asking “Are my cards worth anything?”
99% of the time I have to break it to them gently that they probably shouldn’t quit their day jobs, but every once in a while you encounter a special hobby moment.
One night I heard my phone go off to see a text from a buddy saying his parents had dropped off his old cards at his house. With it, he included a few pictures of pages from several of the binders.
I distractedly scanned the cards - my eyes jumped back and forth between my phone and the tv screen to avoid missing the show we were watching.
All of a sudden something gold caught my eye. As a 90’s basketball collector, I’d seen plenty of 1998-99 UD Choice Starquest cards, but I’d never come across a gold one. Not to mention, the player on the card was Michael Jordan making this all more intriguing.
I frantically responded asking for a picture of the back of the card. For those less familiar with 90s cards, within the 1998-99 UD Choice product was the Starquest insert set, which consisted of blue, green, red, and gold parallels. The gold parallel was the rarest with a limited print run of 100, which was reflected by a serial number on the back.
I sat there waiting anxiously. Could this actually be what I think it is?
His text confirmed it. This was a Starquest Gold Michael Jordan - an absolute 90s grail.
It didn’t take long to fully appreciate how special this card and moment were. Not only did I never come across these cards in the wild, but at the time one of the only public sales was for a PSA 10 back in 2023 for $93,000.
My mind started racing - I immediately called my friend.
I’ve never experienced anything like that moment in my collector journey. As someone with notoriously bad luck I have to imagine it was similar to the high a breaker must feel when they pull a massive card for someone on stream. I could barely contain my excitement as I explained the significance of the card and what it may actually be worth.
Everything about it seemed so surreal.
He had almost half a dozen binders with hundreds of pages and just happened to text me a picture of THAT specific page - any other page and that card may have remained in a basement or garage for years.
The next day I tried my best to summarize the story in a video on social media. Within 24 hrs my messages were flooded with reactions and recommendations on what to do with the card. My phone notifications were going off every minute and I was fielding five-figure offers for my friend.
Most would assume that my friend sold the card without hesitation, but surprisingly that’s not actually what happened.
While his card collecting days are behind him, he never shook that collector bug - just turned his attention from cards to comics. As a collector and basketball fan he appreciated the card and instead opted to keep it in his collection. The whole experience was a reminder that while it’s easy to get wrapped up in the transactional nature of the hobby, a part of me really loved seeing this card remain with the person that pulled it all those years ago.
