Rookie card of NBA great Bill Russell sells for $660K at auction

A rookie card of basketball Hall of Famer Bill Russell sold for $660,000 at an auction on Thursday.

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The 1957 Topps card of the Boston Celtics great, who led the team to 11 NBA championships during his 13-season career and became the league’s first Black head coach, is the third most expensive vintage (pre-1980) basketball card of all time, according to PWCC Marketplace, which hosted the auction.

The only other cards before 1980 that sold for more were a 1948 Bowman George Mikan rookie card, which sold for $800,000 in March 2022, and a 1961 Fleer Wilt Chamberlain rookie card, which sold for $670,000 in June, according to ESPN.

The card was listed as 8.5 out of 10, or near-mint, by Professional Sports Authenticator, a grading service. According to the company’s grading database, there are only two cards graded at 8.5 and only three cards graded higher, at PSA 9. There are no graded examples of a PSA 10, known as a gem mint card, according to PSA.

“It’s worth looking beyond the sales price and taking a moment to appreciate the quality of this card from a historical perspective,” PWCC Marketplace vice president of sales Jesse Craig said in a statement, according to CBS Sports.

The Russell rookie card previously held the record for his most expensive card when it sold for $630,000 in March 2021, ESPN reported.

A 6-foot, 10-inch center, Russell was a 12-time NBA All-Star and was named the league’s MVP five times, in 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1965. He collected 21,620 rebounds as the Celtics dominated the NBA during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s.

Russell was also active in the civil rights movement and was a champion for social justice.

For years, Russell refused to sign autographs or work with trading card companies and auction houses. But in June 2021 he approved the auction of more than 700 items from his career.

Hunt Auctions held the first auction in December 2021, with more than 400 items netting $7.4 million in sales during a live auction at Boston’s TD Garden, Sports Collectors Daily reported. That included the last jersey Russell wore during his NBA career, during Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals. The jersey sold for more than $1.1 million, including the buyer’s premium, according to the collectibles news website.

A second sale held in April 2022 by Hunt Auction included another Russell jersey that sold for more than $1 million, Sports Collectors Daily reported. A total of 286 items were sold during the second sale.

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Bill Russell through the years LAS VEGAS - FEBRUARY 16: Bill Russell leans on a representation of the new box during a ceremony to honor him and unveil a new Wheaties box February 16, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2007 NBAE (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images) (David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)