Joe Montana may not have played a game in nearly 30 years, however he continues to set records in the world of sports.
A jersey worn by the 49ers quarterback in Super Bowl XIX and XXIII just sold for a record $1.212M at auction, smashing the previous football jersey high water mark of $480K.
How was the same jersey worn in two Super Bowls held four years apart you ask? As the story goes, on the morning of SBXXIII, Montana’s wife allegedly pulled the jersey out of storage and asked if Joe wanted to wear it again for luck. The HOF quarterback obliged, and would go on to earn a 20-16 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
During the game, Montana would help orchestrate a 92 yard go ahead TD drive with only 3:10 remaining in the 4th quarter in what would simply be referred to as “The Drive” in NFL lore for years to come.
The jersey is not only one of a kind, but in all likelihood, also the last of its kind as well. With added layers of complexity surrounding licensing agreements, patches, and constant jersey/logo rebrands, it’s virtually guaranteed that no one will ever wear the same jersey in two different Super Bowl victories ever again.
This scarcity, coupled with a brand name like Montana helped drive bids up to nearly three times what the previous record was for a football jersey sale. Tom Brady’s game-worn 2021 Buccaneers jersey sold in January of 2022 for a then record setting sum, only to be outdone by his childhood idol roughly a year later.
“It’s only right that the two greatest quarterbacks of all-time are still trading off records, even in retirement,” Ken Goldin, founder of Goldin Auctions remarked. “Montana was already in rarefied air with four championship rings and three Super Bowl MVPs…with the record-breaking sale of his Super Bowl XXIII jersey, Montana has surpassed Tom Brady on top of that mountain.”
The sale was completed as part of a 94 item lot of memorabilia from Joe Montana’s personal collection. Also on the auction block over the past week have been Montana’s high school jersey, the ball from his final pass as a member of the 49ers, his Pro-Football HOF jacket and bust, and more.
When all is said and done, it’s estimated that the lot will bring in close to $4M.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner