Kevin O'Leary walked the SAG Awards red carpet with a 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman hanging from his neck. Michael Jordan autograph on one side. Kobe Bryant on the other. Set in 2.2 pounds of Tiffany white gold and 100 carats of Tiffany diamonds.
Appraised value on the red carpet: $19.5 to $20 million.
This is a trading card as jewelry. At the Screen Actors Guild Awards. In Hollywood. On a billionaire.
The Card
The 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman is one of the most coveted modern basketball cards in existence. It features game-used NBA logoman patches from both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, with on-card autographs from both players.
O'Leary purchased it in August 2025 for $12,932,000. At the time, it was the most expensive sports card ever sold at auction. It beat the previous record holder, a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle that sold for $12.6 million in August 2022.
Seven months later, he had it mounted in a custom Tiffany setting and wore it to an awards show. The card's appraised value has climbed to nearly $20 million since the purchase. A 54% increase in roughly half a year.
The Statement
O'Leary told reporters on the red carpet that collectibles belong alongside traditional assets. "This investment defies recessions," he said.
That's a strong claim. But O'Leary is not the first person to make it. AJ Scaramucci made a similar argument on CNBC in February after paying $16.49 million for the only PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator. Card Ladder data shows Pokemon cards up 145% in a year. PWCC's 500 Index is up 434% since 2020.
The difference is presentation. Scaramucci bought a Pokemon card and went on a business network to talk about returns. O'Leary put a basketball card in a diamond setting and wore it to Hollywood.
Both are saying the same thing. Collectibles are luxury assets now.
2.2 Pounds of Context
The setting matters as much as the card. Tiffany white gold. 100 carats of diamonds. 2.2 pounds around his neck.
That is not a casual display piece. That is a deliberate crossover between the card hobby and the luxury goods market. Trading cards have appeared at Sotheby's and Christie's for years. They've been on CNBC and Bloomberg. They've been in Netflix docuseries.
They have never been jewelry at the SAG Awards.
What This Means for the Hobby
There's a version of this story that's just a rich guy doing rich guy things. O'Leary is worth an estimated $400 million. He buys watches, wines, and guitars. Adding a trading card necklace to the rotation is on-brand.
But this is also a visibility event. The SAG Awards red carpet reaches millions of people who have never looked at a trading card price chart. When a card shows up next to Tiffany diamonds at a Hollywood awards show, the object moves from "niche collectible" to "status symbol." That's a category shift.
The hobby has been moving in this direction for a while. Ken Goldin built a Netflix show around it. Heritage and Goldin run eight-figure auctions quarterly. PSA graded over 20 million cards in 2024.
But mainstream cultural moments hit different than auction records. Auction records are news in the hobby. A diamond-encrusted card on a red carpet is news everywhere.
The Number
O'Leary paid $12,932,000 in August 2025. Seven months later, the card is appraised at $19.5 to $20 million. Whether that appraisal holds at auction is a different question. Appraisals and hammer prices are not the same thing.
But even if the number is directional, the trajectory is clear. The most expensive sports card ever auctioned gained roughly $7 million in value in less than a year. And its owner just gave it the most expensive marketing campaign a trading card has ever received.
A billionaire wore a piece of cardboard to the SAG Awards. The hobby will never be the same sentence it was before.
