Serena Williams Autographed Rookie Card Auctions At Record $44M Price For A Woman Athlete
Superstar Serena Williams has broken another record, this time off the tennis court.
An autographed rookie card of Williams from 2003 sold at Goldin Auctions on Oct. 24 for $44,280, ESPN reports.
That price for a woman’s sports card surpassed the $34,400 paid in June for soccer star Mia Hamm’s 1992 rookie card.
"People are accepting women's trading cards as collectibles," Goldin Auctions founder Ken Goldin said, adding interest has trended up over the past three years.
People have been collecting athletes who are considered the greatest of all time in their sport, he said. That puts Williams in an elite circle among collectibles that includes the likes of soccer great Pele, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Tom Brady.
“I think that's the single biggest impact that is lifting her cards above all other women athletes," he explained.
Still, huge disparities exist between male and female sports memorabilia. At the same auction, a 2003 - 2004 LeBron James autographed rookie card sold for $2.46 million, and a 2000 Playoffs Contender on-card rookie auto of Brady fetched a hefty $1.5 million sales price.
