MJ's Air Jordan 1 ‘Banned’ Prototype Is Up for Auction
No hooper on Earth packs the cosmic stardust of With his signature sneakers routinely raising paddles at auctions, MJ’s vast Jumpman hangar populates nearly all of the top spots on our sneakers ever sold at auction. No doubt buoyed by the outstanding The Last Dance documentary aired during the pandemic (when collectors spent hours sleuthing for rare grails online), the market continues to respond to game-worn sneakers laced by His Airness.
The latest Air Jordan to appear is an prototype sample dubbed ‘Banned’ from 1984. A version of this model famously appeared on a legendary Nike commercial, with the black and red silhouette reportedly violating the NBA’s strict uniform policy – which stipulated that shoes must be 51 per cent white and in accordance with the shoes that the rest of the team was wearing. This resulted in fines every game MJ wore the shoes, which Nike paid. Even though it’s more than likely there was some at work here, the hype that followed the banned campaign made it well worth Nike's dollar.
The Air Jordan 1 would go on to make an eye-watering $126 million in the first year (Nike’s projected goal was $3 million in the first three years), mainly due to the clever marketing strategies and of course, MJ's success on court.
The pair on auction here of course predates the line, so you won’t see any Wings logos – they’re simply branded as ‘Air Jordan’. The left sneaker is size 13 and the right size 13.5, which was custom ordered for MJ’s unique requirements. The promo-code inside the heel of the left shoe reads ‘13 BH-101684-A-TY’ and the right, reading ‘131/2 BH-101684-A-TY’.
The sneakers are accompanied by a letter from the consignor, which reads, ‘This pair of Air Jordan prototype samples were gifted to me from my college basketball coach in Portland OR, late in 1984. They were given to him directly from NIKE, for allowing NIKE’s Jordan shoe creator team to test out different styles of Jordan shoes on some of his athletes. They have been properly kept and stored for 40 years, and have never been displayed.’