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It’s not super rare to stumble across an absolute steal at a thrift shop courtesy of people who weren’t aware of the value of the item they decided to part with—which may have been the case with a pair of Air Jordans that are linked to Spike Lee and are now set to fetch a fortune at auction.
If you’re familiar with Air Jordan, you probably know the shoes associated with one of the most legendary basketball players of all time have an equally hallowed reputation among sneakerheads and collectors.
It’s possible to avoid breaking the bank if you opt for some of the more widely available models, but it’s not rare for limited-edition options to hit the four-digit mark on the secondary market and can easily rise to five digits if they’re not even available to the general public.
That was the case with the shoes Spike Lee rocked at the Academy Awards in 2019, as the shiny gold kicks he wore while accepting the Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay courtesy of BlacKkKlansman (and subsequently used to walk out of the ceremony when Green Book won Best Picture) were virtually one of a kind.
According to The Associated Press, a handful of shoes with the same design were given to some of the director’s associates, and earlier this year, a pair of them ended up in a donation bin at Portland Rescue Mission, a men’s shelter in Oregon.
The mission said a volunteer noticed the unique nature of the shoe while sorting items that were donated, and after the staff did some digging, they realized they had something special on their hands (no one knows who donated the sneakers, which were a size 12.5).
Tinker Hatfield —the man who designed them for Lee and Co.—eventually made the short trip from Nike headquarters in Beaverton to stop by the shelter to authenticate the shoes while providing a replacement box and donating some more items.
Soethby’s officially describes them as the “Spike Lee Air Jordan 3 ‘Oscars,’” and based on the listing in question, they could be auctioned off for upwards of $35,000 by the time the bidding closes on December 18th.