If you think $10 million is too much for a piece of cardboard, well, someone with very deep pockets disagrees. A historic trading card featuring basketball legends Michael Jordan and LeBron James just changed hands for exactly that amount, according to collectibles media company CLLCT. It's the kind of transaction that makes you wonder if maybe you should have been nicer to your old baseball cards.

A Ghost No More

Fanatics Collect called the card "one of the most talked-about missing pieces in the hobby, a true ghost" when announcing the sale on Instagram back in October. The card has now found its permanent home in the WonderShyne Index, a carefully curated portfolio of ultra high-end cards assembled by "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary, collector Matt Allen, and entrepreneur Paul Warshaw.

Here's where it gets interesting: the card was originally purchased in raw condition—meaning ungraded—and has since received a Professional Sports Authenticator grade of 5 with an autograph grade of 9. Normally, grades matter a lot when pricing cards, but Allen explained on Instagram that "this is a 1-of-1, so the grade is less important overall to how the card performed." Translation: when you're the only one in existence, condition quibbles become somewhat academic.

Chris Ivy, Heritage Auctions' Director of Sports Auctions, told Yardbarker that the card is one of "the finest modern basketball card in the world." That's the kind of endorsement that justifies writing a check with seven zeros.

Elite Company Indeed

The WonderShyne Index isn't messing around. According to CLLCT, the portfolio comprises just eight cards with a combined Index Value of $26.6 million. The crown jewel remains the 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Kobe Bryant-Michael Jordan Dual Logoman 1/1, which sold for a record $12.93 million in August through Heritage Auctions. ESPN reported that the Bryant-Jordan card set the record for a modern sports card, and it still holds that title.

So where does this new Jordan-James card rank historically? Third place overall, according to Yardbarker. The Bryant-Jordan Dual Logoman takes top honors, while a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card that sold for $12.6 million in August 2022 through Heritage Auctions claims second place.

The Mantle card has its own fascinating backstory. According to ESPN, a man named Alan Rosen paid over $125,000 for 5,500 1952 Topps cards back in the 1980s. Rosen sold one of the dozens of ungraded Mantle cards for $50,000 to a buyer who stayed anonymous for 31 years. That card never got graded during more than three decades of ownership, which seems like remarkable restraint in the modern collectibles era.

The Revolution Started at $500

There's a reason these Exquisite Collection cards command such astronomical prices, and it traces back to 2003. Upper Deck released the first Exquisite Collection for the 2003-04 season and charged $500 for one five-card pack. Let that sink in: $500 for five cards.

Ivy told ESPN the product was "kind of mocked" initially, but it "tapped into a demographic that wasn't interested in gimmicks." Upper Deck was "adding patches and signatures, Logomen—this was [one of] the first times logos from the jersey were used in this manner," Ivy explained. The innovation worked. Since then, Panini's National Treasures and Flawless lines have commanded $3,000-plus per box upon release, according to ESPN.

"Exquisite paved the way," Ivy told the outlet, adding that the collection remains "the pinnacle as far as modern card collectors are concerned." When you're selling individual cards for eight figures two decades later, that seems like an understatement.