How much would you pay for a pair of secondhand shoes?
Well, someone just spent more than $200,000 on a pair of old Birkenstock sandals owned and worn by the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs — setting a record for the highest price ever paid for a pair of sandals at auction, according to the auction house.
This weekend, the tech pioneer’s brown suede Arizona sandals, which were expected to make $60,000, sold for an astonishing $218,750 when they went under the hammer at Julien’s Auctions, accompanied by an NFT.
Prior to the sale, the Californian auction house said the sandals, described as “well used” but still “intact,” were a wardrobe staple for Jobs in the 1970s and ’80s. Jobs died in 2011 from complications from pancreatic cancer.
“The cork and jute footbed retains the imprint of Steve Jobs’ feet, which had been shaped after years of use,” the auction house said on its website.
The Birkenstocks were saved from the trash by Mark Sheff, a former house manager to Steve Jobs, during one of the tech icon’s many clearouts, it said.
“Steve Jobs changed the world not only with his revolutionary innovations but with his business leadership style and fashion in wearing sandals,” Darren Julien, CEO and founder of Julien’s Auctions, told CNN in a statement on Monday. “These beloved Birkenstocks were worn by Jobs as he made history in the making of the Apple computer and were the tech icon’s signature staple.”
The shoes were sold in Julien’s Auctions’ “Icons and Idols: Rock ‘n’ Roll” public sale, which featured memorabilia, clothing, musical equipment, and jewelry from musicians and pop culture figures including Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain and John Lennon.
In October last year, a pair of Nike Air Ships worn by basketball legend Michael Jordan sold for $1.47 million, breaking the record for the highest sale price for a pair of sneakers at auction.
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