Bolaffi has acquired a pair of 1985 Nike Air Jordan 1 autographed by the basketball star at auction for $38,000 in the US. The shoes are one of the few examples of the first model of the now legendary line of trainers, revolutionary in terms of their design and colours. Nike designed them specifically for the player during his first season as a professional with the Chicago Bulls in the NBA. Jordan’s on-court prowess did the rest. The sneakers purchased at auction, already rare in themselves, are particularly significant because of their remarkable, almost perfect condition, and the complete and contemporary Michael Jordan autograph on both shoes.
In 1985 Jordan had given the shoes as a present to a contact at Chevrolet, with whom the global basketball icon already a contract to sponsor the “Chevrolet Blazer” car in his first season as a rookie. The contact subsequently sold the trainers to a private collector in 2010 who, in turn, put them up for sale at a recent Heritage Auctions sport memorabilia auction in Dallas, Texas where Bolaffi managed to secure the lot.
“The most successful sneakers in history, stars of the recent Ben Affleck film Air – comments Filippo Bolaffi, CEO of Gruppo Bolaffi – changed our way of perceiving the “athletics shoe ”, not just in basketball but in sport in general, and turned the sneaker in a fashion accessory. The shoe we have acquired is almost unique as it was autographed by Jordan at the time of production. There are believed to be less than 100 examples of the model worldwide. Very few of the greatest sportsmen and women of all time are also familiar to those who aren’t interested in sport. Michael Jordan is one of these. Not just an athlete but a brand. It is no coincidence that the acronym GOAT - the “Greatest of All Time” - was first applied to the legend of basketball.
The Nike Air Jordan 1 sneakers will cross the Atlantic and make their way to Turin where they will become part of the Bolaffi collection, which includes important objects in the history of communication, a traditional focus area of the company: from the first Sumerian tablet through to the Apple 1, the first computer designed in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, a key artefact in the history of digital communication, purchased at auction in 2013.
For Bolaffi, memorabilia are a new way of retracing history, changes in society and our way of communicating. The Group is a pioneer in the sector in Italy, particularly thanks to the sales it makes at the specialist auctions organised by Aste Bolaffi since 2016, which have already sold lots of important pieces of soccer and cycling memorabilia. In the next few months the Air Jordan 1 will be displayed to the public at the Bolaffi stores in Turin, Milan and Rome.