Sports collectibles have been changed by photo matching, says Joopiter's Caitlin Donovan

December 26, 2025 • 4m 47s
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joining us now with more on the story and on the rise of sports collectibles is caitlin donovan global head of sales at jupiter a digital auction house founded by grammy award winner pharrell williams caitlin tell us about these sneakers and you know why a pair of shoes is has
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the potential to fetch ten million dollars
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 00:18.510
you know these shoes are culturally significant for so many reasons you know they changed NBA history as we know it this was the introduction of the kobe six which is still the single most worn style sneaker in the NBA you know kobe bryant his legacy is it continues on and what
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 00:38.830
he did for both basketball and for sneaker history it's just his legacy will continue forever but these shoes are maybe the most famous pair of sneakers in history and they were worn once by kobe bryant and that one time that one pair is the pair that we're selling so this is
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 00:57.190
really the genesis object of natural phenomenon that
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took place so we were talking about collectibles as an alternative investment what are some of the key characteristics that people look for when they purchase a collectible with the expectation for it to appreciate
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 01:14.430
of course provenance is obviously deeply important photo matching has really changed how and what we think of sports collectibles you know the ability to photo match to a single moment or game is exceptional so these shoes being matched by migraine makes them even more special
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 01:32.630
but i think that when we look back or forward we're going to see that the rise in the collectible market is more similar to fine art or historical objects artifacts and so we're seeing these items that people maybe twenty years ago would have said ten million dollars for a pair
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 01:49.150
of sneakers i think that in our near future we'll see a hundred million dollars for items that have this historical
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significance what do people usually do with these collectibles because at least with you know with art you would hang it on your wall and you'd look at it all the time i mean do they put them in like a a protective box and still put it on the wall or is it one of those things
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that's kept in the safe and just let appreciate over time or you know what do people usually
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 02:14.150
do with it as a specialist i always hope they beautiful items or the special items we sell are for everyone to enjoy you know these shoes in particular kobe bryant had such a lasting impact on los angeles on the lakers where he was his entire career so you know my hope is these
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 02:29.670
shoes get to and items like this get to be enjoyed by the community that really supported and made them famous i think these shoes are absolutely beautiful maybe i'm a little but you know they're incredible they're green they're vibrant the pattern on them so i hope that they're
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 02:47.230
available for everyone to see and be displayed
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are they being sold from kobe bryant 's estate is it nike i mean who
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 02:55.110
it's a private client that owns them you know kobe bryant was really special in that after games often give away items to people on his teams to ball boys signed so you know kobe bryant he wanted his items to kind of have this enduring
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legacy as you see the rise of collectibles is it taking money out of other places that might you know if you're selling ten million dollars for a pair of shoes does that mean less money that goes toward other places that you know historically would have fetched higher prices
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 03:25.390
what i think is fun is seeing people who weren't historical sports collectibles collectors really join the thing about sports is sports is so emotional and personal you remember where you were on december twenty fifth two thousand ten when kobe wore these sneakers against you
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 03:40.990
know the big three the heat versus the lakers so i think that we're going to see more people who are not traditional sports collectors investing in items like this but there is plenty of categories to go around so
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caitlin are there your clientele in terms of the buyers are there new classes of buyers out there there are crypto fortunes that didn't exist and well bit less now but there's still crypto fortunes there are AI fortunes out there are there new classes of bidders out there that
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you're finding that weren't involved in this sort of thing before
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 04:11.190
absolutely and i think sports collectibles is an incredible collectible market for people who are not traditional maybe art collectors or fine jewelry collectors to go into because like i said sports are personal to a lot of people to everyone so i i think we're seeing more and
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 04:27.230
more people invest in sports collectibles that weren't traditional auction house collectors but also kobe bryant himself he it's very global you know his legacy is not just in LA it's not just in america but we see a lot of interest in china across europe in the middle east so
Caitlin Donovan (Global Head of Sales) 04:42.910
i'm excited to see who comes in for these really special shoes