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Dan Hajducky
The initial No. 24 uniform sported by Kobe Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers recently fetched $889,000, inclusive of the buyer’s fee, at Sotheby’s.
A uniform utilized by Jerry West from 1964 through 1967 also garnered $533,400 during the same evening.
Bryant donned the uniform while accumulating 23 points in a 118-112 triumph against the Seattle Supersonics on Nov. 3, 2006. He would amass 50 points or more in a contest on 10 instances during that 2006-07 season en route to his second consecutive — and ultimate — league scoring crown.
The uniform is autographed by him featuring the inscriptions “FIRST 24” and “1/1” on the jersey’s numbers, complete with an Upper Deck hologram, as the company maintained an autograph and memorabilia agreement with Bryant until 2009.
MeiGray Authenticated also established a photo-match of the jersey to the Lakers’ 2006 media day in October.
The highest sum ever exchanged for any Bryant uniform is $7 million — for a uniform verified via photo-matching to seven games from his 1996-97 rookie season. That uniform was vended by Sotheby’s in April.
West’s uniform was definitively worn during Game 6 of the 1965 and 1966 Western Division finals and Game 2 of the 1966 NBA Finals, according to photo-matching by Sports Investors Authentication.
SIA’s letter of authenticity indicates the jersey was “likely” sported during both the 1965 and 1966 NBA Finals. The Lakers succumbed to the Boston Celtics in both those series, with West averaging 33.8 and 33.9 points per game, respectively.
The West uniform lot also encompassed a warm-up jacket, shorts and socks, which the auction house “also believes to be game-worn.” In 1967, Frank O’Neill, a former Lakers trainer, acquired the articles when the team relocated to The Forum and they’ve been maintained in a private collection until the present.
A collector obtained a uniform verified via photo-matching to four games from the 1969-70 Lakers season for $868,000 in May, an all-time benchmark for a West item.
The uniform that Wayne Gretzky wore in his concluding NHL game for the New York Rangers on April 18, 1999, was projected to realize in excess of $1 million, but Sotheby’s verified that bidding did not attain a predetermined reserve price and the uniform remained unsold.
