New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft purchased a gem mint condition Tom Brady rookie card for $120,000 at a Sotheby’s auction in New York City on Tuesday evening.
With the legendary Patriots quarterback turned NFL color commentator sitting next to him, Kraft won the card with a bid of $100,000 – eventually paying $120k for the autographed piece of memorabilia.
Kraft was alongside Brady and Fanatics owner Michael Rubin at the ‘Holy Grails’ auction in Harlem – where rare and special trading cards and collectibles were put up for sale.
According to Sotheby’s, the card that Kraft bought ‘commemorates Brady’s rookie season after being selected 199th overall by the Patriots in the 2000 NFL Draft.’
The description of the card continues, saying, ‘The piece, as well as Tom Brady rookie cards generally, is made especially rare by the fact that so few were printed due to his draft stock.
Tom Brady watched on as Robert Kraft bought a rookie card of his for $120,000 on Tuesday
The auction, held through Sothebys, saw this autographed Brady rookie card go to Kraft
‘Compared to top of the draft players, especially in today’s game, who are featured in a variety of sets and variations, Brady’s status as a sixth rounder curbed his print run at large.
‘Brady only had about 135 main line card designs printed for the 2000 product year and only 13 among them featured an autograph. Of these, just four featured Brady in his iconic number 12 Patriots uniform.’
This card that Kraft purchased was one of four Brady cards that were put up for auction on Tuesday night.
The lowest-end card was a 2006 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Holosilver card that was one-of-one and sold for $21,600.
In addition to the card Kraft bought, there was another Brady autographed rookie card that was once owned by the quarterback himself which was sold for $192,000.
But the most expensive Brady card of the evening was a 2015 Panini Immacculate Collection Premium Patches card that had the NFL shield from one of Brady’s jerseys as well as an autograph. This one-of-one card sold for a whopping $480,000.
Surprisingly, this was not the most expensive purchase of the evening – that honor belongs to a 1955 Roberto Clemente rookie card, which was sold in the auction for an unbelievable $840,000.
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