Bill Russell Rookie Card Fetches $660,000 at Auction

The massive bid marks the third-highest price ever paid for a basketball card.

A rare Topps NBA trading card commemorating the rookie year of late Celtics legend Bill Russell reached iconic status recently after selling for a massive price at auction.

The card, recapping Russell’s performance in the 1956–57 season, sold on Thursday for $660,000 in a sale facilitated by PWCC Marketplace. The eye-whopping bid marks the highest price paid for a card of Russell, who died in July 2022 at age 88, and one of the most-expensive vintage (pre-1980) cards ever sold.

Next to the ’57 Russell card, only a Bowman rookie card of George Mikan, and a Fleer rookie card of Wilt Chamberlain have sold at a higher price, per ESPN. The 1948-49 Mikan card sold in March 2022 for a reported $800,000, while the 1960-61 Chamberlain card fetched a reported $670,000 in June 2022.

Graded between mint and near-mint condition, per ESPN, the ’57 Russell card is known to only have three copies with a higher grade, none of which have been up for sale to date.

🚨Record Breaking Sale🚨

This Bill Russell rookie is now his most expensive card of all-time. Graded a PSA 8.5 and designated a PWCC-E, only 3 examples have been graded higher. pic.twitter.com/xXKSk4GMBD

— Fanatics Collect (@FanaticsCollect) May 12, 2023

An 11-time NBA champion and a Naismith Hall of Famer as a player and coach, Russell burst onto the pro scene out of the University of San Francisco with an impactful first season, setting in motion a legendary career. 

In his 48 games played, the then-22-year-old recorded 14.7 points and a league-high 19.6 rebounds per game while guiding the Celtics to a 44-28 record and their first of an eventual 17 NBA titles.