Will This PSA-Graded Copy of Michael Jordan's First SI Cover Break the Record for Graded Magazine Sales?
Plus: Ungraded Mantle SI hits five figures, the future of LeBron's first cover at PSA, misleading listings, and more
When the Goldin social team breaks out the royalty-free music and fancy animations for an Instagram Reel dedicated to a single graded magazine, you know things are getting serious.
A week before bidding closes, this PSA 9.6 copy of Michael Jordan’s first Sports Illustrated cover is already up to $43,920 with buyer’s premium. There are rumblings it could approach — or even exceed — the all-time record sale price of $126,000 for a graded magazine.
First, some facts:
The record sale belongs to a CGC 9.8 copy of Michael Jordan’s “A Star Is Born” SI cover — his first in a Bulls uniform — which sold at Heritage Auctions in August 2023. At the time, there were three CGC 9.8 newsstand copies of that issue. There are now four, and one PSA 9.8.
9.6 is the “top pop” among all graded newsstand copies of the UNC issue. There is one CGC 9.6, and presumably one PSA 9.6. (Since we can’t link to specific entries on the PSA Pop Report, you’ll just have to trust us when we say it has not yet been updated to include the slab in question.)
Now, conjecture:
What will it mean for the magazine collecting niche if this issue sets a new record?
PSA grabs the wheel. If a PSA-graded Sports Illustrated shatters a record sale price, they will make sure people know it. The sale will be on their website, magazine, and social channels (which dwarf CGC’s and have a mostly sports-interested audience). The first graded magazine many people see will be in a PSA slab.
A potential shift in most-desired MJ cover. The “Star Is Born” cover, in my view, is more visually appealing and historically important: It’s an action shot of Air Jordan — the sole focus of the photo and cover story — in a red Bulls uniform with a prophetic headline. But those things may not outweigh the same “first” factor that has pulled baseball card collectors from from Topps rookie cards to 1st Bowmans.
More collectors get into magazines. A record sale price would make headlines, exposing people not only to the concept of magazine grading, but to magazine collecting in general. As a guy who likes talking about sports magazines, I think this would be great!
Some profiteers descend on the niche. The big number would also raise the antennas of flippers, who migrate from one collectible space to another, raiding niches for resources like the aliens in Independence Day. I’d rather this didn’t happen, but it may be worth selling into spikes caused by sharp increases in liquidity. (Note: I am not even remotely an economist.)
Of course, we could just have a mere five-figure sale on our hands, and most of these points will be moot. We’ll find out one way or another next Saturday night (or Sunday morning).
💸Ungraded Newsstand Copy of Mickey Mantle’s First SI Cover Sells for More Than $11,000
Fresh off the $34,000 PSA 9.0 sale of Mickey Mantle’s first Sports Illustrated cover, a beautiful ungraded copy of the same issue sold for nearly one-third that price in an eBay auction.
In classic eBay fashion, the price doubled in the final seconds, as six bidders clicked and tapped and hoped their routers didn’t blip. Thankfully, there are no reports of any cardiac events associated with the chaotic closing minute.
This likely represents the highest-ever sale of an ungraded, unsigned SI that wasn’t previously owned by the person on the cover or some other famous athlete. Perhaps too many qualifiers to put on a plaque, but it’s still a milestone worth noting.
A few relevant sales that put this number in perspective:
In May 2024, a CGC 8.5 copy of this issue sold on Heritage for $10,800. Fifteen months later, a different CGC 8.5 copy sold for $21,350 on Heritage.
Last February, a signed, ungraded subscription edition sold on eBay for $8,299 in February 2025.
A 1916 issue of Sporting Life newspaper (“Devoted to Base Ball, Trap Shooting and General Sports.”) with 21-year-old Babe Ruth on the front page sold for $9,900 on Heritage in March 2024.
As we mentioned last week, even if you’re not a buyer at these prices, it’s still a bit of a thrill being involved in a niche young enough to still have random, museum-quality attic discoveries.
And if nothing else, rising prices at the top should validate your decision to pay your hard-earned money for the covers that mean something to you.
Other Notable Sales
⛳ Arnold Palmer’s first SI cover in newsstand sold for $392. It’s also the first cover for Don Finsterwald and Ken Venturi, which gives me an excuse to recommend a great golf book: The Match by Mark Frost.
A CGC 7.0 copy sold for $381 last year on Goldin, though that one had some pretty noticeable visual defects, including color fading along the spine and a date stamp across the title. With some cleaning, the issue above will likely grade higher than that.
🐯 Five Tiger Woods SI issues in great condition sold for $97.52. Someone got a great deal on this lot, and I am kicking myself for missing out on it.
As golf remains fractured and without a dominant, magnetic star with mainstream appeal, I believe Tiger Woods magazine covers (and trading cards, memorabilia, etc.) will continue to rise in popularity. It helps that he’s still public-facing through TGL appearances and perpetual teases that he might play The Masters.
☘️ Two subscription copies of Bob Cousy’s first Sports Illustrated cover sold for $77. This is such a great cover, with Cousy snaking around a pair of All-Stars — one of whom seems to have set a screen on his teammate amidst the Cousy confusion.
The lighting on the court looks almost cinematic. It’s no wonder the Houdini of the Hardwood was a Blue Chips scene-stealer nearly 40 years later.
🤔 Michael Jordan’s first SI cover sold for just $255. With address label-attached copies of this issue widely available for $70-$100 in good condition, this sale price doesn’t exactly reflect a slam-dunk newsstand copy.
If you, uh, zoom in on Mike’s thighs — where a label might normally be — two dark marks appear, separated by about the width of the two strips of adhesive commonly used at the time. The marks don’t seem to reflect light the same way the rest of the cover does, which leads me to believe they could be glue remnants that have absorbed dirt over the years.
But maybe not? The seller didn’t clarify the type of issue in the listing (nor did they respond to my message asking about it), but to their credit, they did provide plenty of photos of the area.
For the buyer’s sake, I hope I’m wrong. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time I’ve misjudged a listing photo!
What We’re Watching
🍁 Jackie Robinson’s first TIME cover on eBay. It’s a Canadian edition — hence the maple leaf at the top — but I’ve never felt that should affect its desirability. The cover portrait (drawn by prolific TIME illustrator Ernest Hamlin Baker) captures the grace of an American icon in 1947, the year he broke baseball’s color barrier.
A U.S. edition of this issue sold for $500 on eBay in December. Because this particular auction closes on a Wednesday morning, one might be able to snag it for less than that.
Click here to read the original cover story from this issue.
🏀 Michael Jordan’s first SI cover graded CGC 7.0 on eBay. Nice piece, right? Not so fast my friend!
Upon closer inspection, there are some major issues here:
The case is probably cracked. On the back side near the top right corner, there’s a thin white line that doesn’t look like a light reflection. A curved slash covers the top left corner of the inner well, and there may also be some chipping or cracking of the well just above the mag’s top line.
More chips than a bag of Ruffles. There’s a medium-sized plastic chip inside the case near the bottom of the back cover, a smaller one over the bar code on the front, and who knows how many others floating around in there.
Cover on the run? The baby blue front cover is not aligned with the brown page behind the gatefold, and because the plastic bumper designed to hold up the magazine no longer functions, the rest of the mag is sitting flush on the bottom of the case.
None of these issues are disclosed in the listing description. The cert photos on CGC’s website shows this slab was once clean, smooth, and centered. Sad!
This is a good reminder that magazines can sustain damage while inside (cough CGC cough) slabs. All it takes is one corner drop for sharp pieces of interior plastic to start wreaking havoc on those thin sheets of paper. Don’t just look at the number in the corner — always check to make sure the slab itself is in good condition!
🏀 LeBron James’s first Sports Illustrated cover in a PSA 9.8 on Goldin. The most recent sale of a CGC 9.8 I could find was for $1,830. Will the “PSA Premium” be on display here?
Long-term, I’m interested to see how the two pop reports develop for this issue. PSA has already handed out more 10s to ultra-modern issues than CGC has in two decades, but anecdotally, collectors are seeing lower grades from PSA when crossing over from CGC.
Two thoughts I can’t figure out how to tie into paragraph form:
If PSA is consistently more stringent than PSA — as early anecdotal evidence suggests — we should expect to see a lower percentage of “Chosen One” 9.8s compared to CGC. (Currently, 12.7% of CGC-graded newsstand copies are 9.8, compared to 20% for PSA. )
While not “ultra-modern”, this issue is new enough — and collectible enough at the time — that it’s conceivable a 10-worthy copy exists. Will PSA be tempted to put a gold label on the most famous SI issue of the last 25 years? It would certainly be a headline-grabbing event.
Coming Soon: Piecing Together the Rarity of Early SLAM Cover Variants
Most SLAM heads are familiar with the early cover variants that rarely pop up on the secondary market. Lately I’ve been doing some digging in hopes of clarifying how these covers were originally distributed — and if the #7 Hakeem cover even exists. If all goes well, we should be able to present some rough estimates in an upcoming newsletter roundup.
Reminder: Subscribe for Free to Get Your Michael Jordan Magazine Collector’s Checklist
As a thank-you to our earliest readers, we’re offering a free download of our Michael Jordan Magazine Collector’s Checklist to anyone who becomes a free subscriber.
After subscribing, you’ll receive a welcome email with a button prompting you to create a copy of the original Google Sheet, where you’ll be able to:
Track your personal collection
Add issues to your want list
Browse 350+ MJ covers released since 1983
The file itself isn’t large, but it does require a lot of screen space. We recommend opening on a laptop or desktop computer, rather than your phone.
We’ll be adding more player-, team-, and publication-themed checklists in the coming months. Subscribe now to get your copy!
Thanks for reading our weekly newsletter roundup. If you have any feedback or ideas for what we should cover in the future, simply reply to this email or comment below on Substack.