Sotheby's to put rare Nike Olympic shoes on sale, expecting $1 million

The lace-up shoes were made for 1960s Canadian Olympian Harry Jerome

The pair of track and field spikes designed by Bill Bowerman for Canadian sprinter Harry Jerome features a red arrow that was a prelude to the famous Nike swoosh logo. Sotheby's via AFP

On the same day the Olympic Games opens this month, Sotheby's will put on sale running shoes made by Nike's co-founder for 1960s Olympian Harry Jerome that could fetch $1 million.

The rare pair of track and field spikes designed by Bill Bowerman for Jerome, a Canadian sprinter who won 100-metre bronze at the 1964 Tokyo Games, features a red arrow that was a prelude to the famous Nike swoosh logo.

Sotheby's New York will put the white lace-up shoes on sale online from Friday, July 23 to Monday, August 2.

The auction house estimates that they could go for between $800,000 and $1.2m.

The sale comes as the market for rare sports shoes, previously seen as niche, soars.

In April, a pair of Nike Air Yeezy 1s worn by rapper Kanye West sold for $1.8m, triple the previous record for sneakers.

The shoes beat the record held by a pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s, which sold for $615,000 in August 2020 at a Christie's auction.

Sotheby's said the shoe by Bowerman, who founded Nike with Phil Knight, "represents an important chapter in the origins of the Nike brand".

The auction house is also selling a pair of Converse Fastbreak sneakers that basketball legend Michael Jordan wore during the 1984 Olympic trials.

They are expected to fetch up to $100,000.