Bill Russell rookie card goes for $660,000 at auction

A 1957 Topps Bill Russell rookie card sold for $660,000 at auction Thursday, setting a record for a card of the Boston Celtics great who died last year.

The sale, conducted by PWCC Marketplace, makes the Russell card the third-most-expensive vintage (pre-1980) basketball card of all time, according to Card Ladder.

The only other pre-1980 basketball cards that sold for more were a 1948 Bowman George Mikan rookie card ($800,000 in March 2022) and a 1961 Fleer Wilt Chamberlain rookie card ($670,000 in June).

This Russell rookie card — which was graded an 8.5, between mint and near-mint, by Professional Sports Authenticator — previously held the record for most expensive card of his when it sold for $630,000 in March 2021. There are only three copies of the card graded higher, and they have never surfaced for public auction.

For years Russell was an enigma in the sports memorabilia hobby, but in June 2021 he facilitated the auction of more than 700 items from his Hall of Fame career. The collection was brought to market from December 2021 to April 2022 with Hunt Auctions, netting nearly $9 million, including a jersey worn in Russell’s final game, the clinching win of the 1969 NBA Finals, that sold for more than $1 million.

Typical of Russell, he made sure proceeds benefited charities, with funds going to Mentor, a Boston-based nonprofit he co-founded, and Boston Celtics United for Social Justice, which fights racial injustice and social inequities in the greater Boston area.

Russell, a civil rights icon who was the first Black coach in any major professional sport and the first to win an NBA title, died July 31 at the age of 88. In August, the NBA announced that Russell’s No. 6 would be retired across the league — a first — with only players already using the number being allowed to keep it.