Jordan rookie card could bring more than $80,000

DALLAS, TX -- A Michael Jordan rookie card in top condition is expected to earn more than $80,000 at auction.

Heritage Auctions in Dallas is offering the card from 1986 in an online auction where it's expected to sell after midnight Thursday. The consigner wishes to remain anonymous.

Chris Ivy, Heritage's director of sports collectibles, says the Fleer card is one of only five Jordan rookie cards to get Beckett Grading Services' top grade of "Pristine 10."

Ivy says the card is dated to 1986, even though Jordan's first year with the Chicago Bulls was 1984, because basketball cards weren't manufactured from 1982 to 1984. He says Topps made them from 1968 until 1981 and then Fleer began printing them, offering "what is acknowledged by collectors as the true Jordan rookie."