Sotheby’s auction house has held its very first auction dedicated entirely to sneakers.
Although best known for selling artwork, Sotheby’s collaborated with Stadium Goods to auction 100 pairs of the rarest sneakers ever produced.
Amongst the prized collection was one of the very first pairs of running shoes ever produced by Nike.
Bill Bowerman, who founded the brand and was also a track coach, designed the shoes for runners at the 1972 Olympics trials, calling them “Moon Shoes.”
The pair was sold to investor and car collector, Miles Nadal, who paid $437,500 for them — a world record for a pair of running shoes at an auction. The previous record was $190,373 for a pair of signed Converse shoes said to have been worn by Michael Jordan in the 1984 Olympic basketball final.
Nadal didn’t stop there, however.
The Canadian paid $850,000 for 99 other pairs of rare or limited collection sneakers, including 2011 and 2016 versions of the Back to the Future Part II shoes which Nike created.
