A 1997 Metal Universe Kobe Bryant Green Precious Metal Gems card has sold for an astounding $3.15M at auction, representing the highest sale for a solo Kobe Bryant card on record.
The card, which was graded a PSA 5, is limited to just 10 copies, and is a notoriously tough grade due to how easily the surface could be scratched. While there is 1 copy of the card which has been graded higher than this sale, it has not surfaced publicly in years.
The alternative trading platform Alt was the winning bidder as they continue to snatch up high end NBA cards to add to their portfolio. “I’d argue this is the best Kobe Bryant card out there,” Alt founder and CEO Leore Avidar said. “They only made 10 of them, it shines, and it’s the first year of basketball PMGs — which there’s a collector base for. I’ve been trying to get one. It’s always been my thing.”
A dual logoman Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant card famously sold for $12.932M at auction in August of 2025, setting a new record for most expensive sports card sale of all time. However this 1997 PMG card is the new high watermark for any standalone Bryant card.
The card becomes the crown jewel of Alt’s NBA collection amongst their Kobe memorabilia. The company also made high profile purchases of Stephen Curry’s National Treasurers rookie logoman card, a 1 of 1 Giannis Antetokounmpo rookie logoman, a Kevin Durant rookie patch auto, and a LeBron James rookie patch auto card, which when added up together exceed $10M in bids.
While PSA may be the most well known grading company, a BGS 8.5 version of this particular Bryant card exists, and sold for just over $2M back in 2022. With this sale now official, it will be interesting to see whether the owner of the highest grade in existence opts to continue holding onto his investment, or look to turn a tidy profit.
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.