Serena Williams Rookie Card Goes For A Record Price Of $44,280

Serena Williams

An autographed rookie card by Serena Williams from 2003 was auctioned at a New Jersey-based Goldin Auctions on Sunday. It was sold for a whopping $44,280.

This price set a new record for women’s sports cards and beat the previous sale of a 1992 SI for Kids Mia Hamm rookie card. The card was sold in June with Goldin Auctions for $34,440.

The Serena Williams card was bought by Alt, which is an alternative-asset trading platform on behalf of a private client.

Goldin Talks About The Value Of The Serena Williams Card

Ken Goldin, who is the executive chairman and founder of Goldin Auctions, stated that people were accepting women’s trading cards as collectibles. The Serena Williams card features 2 swatches of match-worn apparel and features her signature on the card itself. Ken added that they had observed the increase over the last 3 years, which was heavily pushed in the second half of 2020 up through 2021. People look for women’s sports cards on social media and on different forum boards.

The effect that Serena had on such collections is that many people want to put together a GOAT collection. They ask for Pele, Mohd. Ali, Jordan, Brady, and even Tiger Woods. Ken thinks that this is the biggest impact, lifting her cards over other women athletes.

While most record-setting cards feature high grades, on a scale of 1-10, more often than not, from grading companies PSA or BGS, the Serena Williams card is graded a PSA 5. The card is numbered 1/100. Per PSA’s population report, it is, however, the only known 5 grade from PSA.

Goldin stated that the particular card was serial numbered 1 out of 100. He also noted how a card’s serial number matching the player’s uniform can double the value of the card. They do not have uniform numbers in tennis so the signature matters in this case. An unsigned version of a similar card went for $12,300 previously.