Mia Hamm rookie card sells for more than $34,000 at auction, shattering record
A Mia Hamm rookie card set a record last weekend when it sold for more than $34,000 at an auction, making it the most expensive female sports card of all time, according to ESPN.
The Hamm card, a PSA 10 rookie card from a 1992 Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine, went for $34,440 through Goldin Auctions to an anonymous buyer.
A @MiaHamm rookie card sold for $34,440 over the weekend, nearly doubling the previous record for most expensive female sports card all-time. https://t.co/1TCPcPv4Dk pic.twitter.com/bxOhhw4naH
— espnW (@espnW) June 29, 2021
It shattered the previous record for most expensive female sports card, which was last set when an Alex Morgan card reportedly went for $16,000. A Serena Williams rookie card also reportedly sold for $14,000.
The Hamm card, like the other S.I. for Kids cards, was originally torn out of a perforated sheet that was part of a 1992 magazine. Hamm, per the report, was joined by longtime MLB player Bobby Bonilla and NASCAR driver Richard Petty, among others, on the nine-card sheet.
Somehow, Hamm’s card was preserved and is the only known PSA 10 S.I. for Kids card in existence, per ESPN.
"It validates that there's a legitimate market for women's sports," Goldin Auctions founder Ken Goldin said, via ESPN. "Four years ago, soccer was not considered by most [trading card] people in the United States — myself included — to be part of their collecting universe, but two of the five highest-priced items in this auction were soccer related [and] then you have Mia Hamm up there, too."
Hamm, arguably one of the most famous American soccer players of all time, played for the U.S. Women’s National Team from 1987-2004 and led them to two World Cup wins and two Olympic gold medals. She scored 158 goals in international play by the time she retired, the most at the time by any man or woman.
"[Mia] is the right era for this record," Goldin said, via ESPN. "Part of that '96 team, I remember where I was 25 years ago when they won the gold. People my age who have money are looking for cards like this. Mia was [a] name everybody recognized or was starting to."
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