# Michael Jordan or Lionel Messi? Top 10 sports legends with the most valuable sports memorabilia

URL: https://technosports.co.in/top-10-valuable-sports-memorabilia/  
Published: 2022-04-15  
Updated: 2022-04-15  
Author: Rahul Roy

Over the past few years, the **sports memorabilia market **has continued to boom with an estimated market value of $5.4 billion. From vintage ball signatures to authorized sports cards, the world of sport is a passionate one, with the potential for memorabilia from your favorite legend to **earn you thousands! **

Interested in the most valuable sports investments, [OnBuy Treadmills](https://www.onbuy.com/gb/treadmills~c12249/) scraped the **20 most expensive sold memorabilia **listings for **50 sports legends (totalling nearly 1000 items)** using an established UK ecommerce site. The study revealed the world’s **most loved sports legend**, **with the most expensive and valuable sports memorabilia.**

**Highlights from the research include: ​**​

- **Michael Jordan** is the legend that has the most valuable memorabilia sold, with an average price of** $31,973 **and the highest sale achieved **$85,000**
- **Basketball **was found to be the most profitable sport, with average sales exceeding **$10,000**
- According to OnBuy Treadmills, **Match Tickets** have the highest average sold price of **$7,602 **while **Trading Cards **are the most common type of memorabilia (**66%**)

## Top 10 sports legends with the most valuable sports memorabilia

![](https://technosports.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/sports-collectibles-953x1024.png)

In first place is six-time NBA Finals MVP Awards winner **Michael Jordan**, with an average for the top 20 sold items totalling **$31,973**. His highest sold item is a trading card dated back to season 1997-98 with a certificated quality grade of 9, at an astonishing price of **$85,000**.

Los Angeles Lakers’ star **LeBron James** is in second place. With a **96% **total sold price contribution from basketball trading cards, his 20 best-selling memorabilia averaged **$20,917**. “2004 sweet shot three-point auto jersey Lebron James /23 BGS 9.5 2nd Year POP”, a graded card featuring two pieces of his jersey and an on-card autograph, was the highest sold price at **$50,000**.

The late, and the great **Kobe Bryant** is in third place, with an average sold price of over **$15,000 ($18,091)**. His most expensive item was an official authorized card with Ja Morant and his autograph, the “2019-20 Hoops Art Signatures Kobe Bryant Ja Morant Dual PSA/DNA Auto 10 POP 1” (**$29,822**). 

In fourth place is baseball legend **Babe Ruth**** ($12,337) **with more diversity in his top-selling types of memorabilia. Besides trading cards, his signed ball contributed **26%** of total price of the top 20, with a DNA certified signed ball selling at an astonishing **$35,000 **in January 2022. 

Rounding off the top five is soccer legend **Lionel Messi**** ($11,159) **whose highest selling memorabilia is a rookie card from 2004 featuring the young Messi in FC Barcelona** ($41,387)**. Match tickets for his professional career debut in 2003 also caught huge attention in the market, having sold for** $12,000**. 

Having analyzed nearly 1,000 items of memorabilia, OnBuy Treadmills can reveal that **basketball legends retain the most value with average sales for top 20 items totalling $10,411 – with 4 sporting stars ranked in top 10.**

## Most valuable sport by memorabilia

| **Most valuable sport by memorabilia** |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Rank** | **Sport** | **Average Price $** |
| 1 | Basketball | 10,411 |
| 2 | Baseball | 5,303 |
| 3 | Soccer | 4,471 |
| 4 | Tennis | 1,778 |
| 5 | Cricket | 380 |

**Most valuable type of memorabilia **

The study** **suggests that match tickets have the highest average sold price of **$7,602 **for just 19 items researched. Comparably, trading cards are the second most in demand to invest in with a total average value of **$5,830 **for all cards reviewed, followed by jersey (**$4,239**) and magazine (**$3,925**). 

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