Premier destination of auctions and private sale,Sotheby’s will trade a pair of running shoes designed by Nike’s co-founder for 1960s Olympian Harry Jerome that could fetch $1 million on July 23rd, the same day the Olympics begins.
Sotheby’s auctioneers recently released a pair of ‘prototype logo’ track spikes running shoes by Mr. Bill Bowerman in the 1960s and modified by him in the early 1970s.
A red arrow was a precursor to the renowned Nike swoosh mark on the rare pair of track and field spikes developed by Mr. Bill Bowerman for Jerome, a Canadian sprinter who won 100-meter bronze at the 1964 Tokyo Games.
Sotheby’s in New York will sell the white lace-up shoes online, from July 23 to August 2. They are expected to sell for between $800,000 and $1.2 million, according to the auction house. The auction coincides with a surge in demand for unusual sports shoes, which were formerly considered a niche industry.
A pair of Nike Air Yeezy 1s worn by Kanye West was sold for $1.8 million in April, breaking the previous record for footwear. The sneakers broke the record, which was held by a pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s that sold for $615,000 at a Christie’s auction in August 2020.
Sotheby’s said the shoe by Mr. Bowerman, who founded Nike with its co-founder Mr. Phil Knight, “represents an important chapter in the origins of the Nike brand.”
A pair of Converse Fastbreak sneakers worn by basketball legend Michael Jordan during the 1984 Olympic trials is also up for auction at the auction house. It’s believed that they’ll sell for up to $100,000.
Last week, Sotheby’s sold the original source code of the world wide web invented by Mr. Tim Berners-Lee through an online auction for $5.4 million.
