1984-85 Star Michael Jordan #101 XRC

The company that filled the gap

Topps gave up on basketball after its 1981-82 set, largely for lack of demand, and for a time no one made licensed NBA cards at all. Entrepreneur Robert Levin's Star Company bought the NBA license and began producing cards in mid-1983, starting with a 32-card All-Star set. From 1983 to 1986, Star cards were the only licensed basketball cards being made.

Star did not sell packs in stores. Its cards came in sealed, clear plastic bags, one team per bag, distributed through about half a dozen master distributors to hobby shops, card shows and sometimes arenas and minor-league games. Large parts of the Midwest and South saw little of them, and one collector recalls only 20 to 30 dealers nationwide carrying the sets. Star's three-year run lost money.

Print runs were small. Most Star production runs were at or below 5,000, and estimates for each 1984-85 team set run from about 3,000 to 8,000. Sources do not agree on a single figure for the Jordan card.

Card #101

The 1984-85 Star base set runs to 288 cards, grouped by team, with borders in team colors: red for the Bulls, yellow for the Lakers, green for the Celtics. 'Star '85' is printed in the top right corner. The Chicago Bulls bag held cards #101 through #112, with Jordan first, followed by teammates including Dave Corzine, Wes Matthews and Orlando Woolridge.

The photo is an odd one for the most famous dunker in history: it shows Jordan grabbing a rebound rather than scoring. Jordan appears on other cards in the set as well, and sources disagree on how many (three or four); #101 is the one collectors treat as his rookie.

Position on the printed sheet shaped the card. #101 sat in the top left corner of the uncut sheet, which left it notoriously off-center, almost always with a wider border on the right, and one reference says more than 90% of copies were cut short of the full 3.5-inch height. Collectors have argued that the sheet position also left fewer Jordans than other stars in the set.

A rookie season worth remembering

Michael Jordan was born February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn. At North Carolina he won the 1982 national championship as a freshman and the national player of the year awards as a junior in 1984. That summer he led the U.S. Olympic team in scoring at 17.1 points a game and won gold in Los Angeles. The Chicago Bulls took him third in the 1984 draft, behind Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie.

He debuted at Chicago Stadium on October 26, 1984, and scored 16. Over the season he averaged 28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists, was voted an All-Star starter, made the All-NBA Second Team and was named Rookie of the Year. Sports Illustrated put him on its December cover under the headline 'A Star Is Born.' The Bulls improved from 27 wins to 38 and reached the playoffs for the first time since 1981.

The Star card is his only licensed NBA card from that rookie season, which is why many collectors call it his true rookie card. He went on to six titles, five MVPs, ten scoring titles and the Hall of Fame in 2009.

1984: the year the NBA changed

The 1984 draft produced four future Hall of Famers and members of the NBA's 50 greatest players list: Olajuwon, Jordan, Charles Barkley and John Stockton. It came as the Celtics-Lakers rivalry and Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were reviving the league's television ratings. Nike introduced the Air Jordan shoe in 1984.

Los Angeles hosted the Summer Olympics from July 28 to August 12. Prince released Purple Rain in June, Jeopardy! began its syndicated run with Alex Trebek in September, and in November Ronald Reagan won reelection, carrying 49 states. In April, federal health officials announced the identity of the virus that causes AIDS.

Fakes, refusals and a reversal

For years Star cards carried a cloud. In the late 1980s factory rejects and press samples stolen by a former print employee reached the market. In 1997 Levin sold 'newly discovered' Star cards on a cable home-shopping channel that turned out to be freshly printed and backdated, and the NBA sued him and associates over the counterfeits. The #101 Jordan was not part of those reprint sets, but outright fakes of it circulate.

The leading grading company graded some Star cards early on, then stopped; a 2021 report said it refused to grade them because of the high rate of forgery. Another grader began grading Star cards in 2008. The leading grader returned to the set recently, in 2022 by one account and 2023 by another, and a 2026 count put 562 Jordan #101s in its holders, with only three graded 9 and none graded 10.

Grading unlocked the market. PSA 7 copies sold for $15,600 in November 2022 and $101,000 in 2026, according to one dealer's count. A PSA 8 brought $68,482 at auction in December 2023, and another brought $244,000 at the end of the summer of 2024 on a $200,000 winning bid, reported as a record for the grade. In May 2024 a PSA 9 sold privately for $925,000, passing the $840,000 paid for a PSA 10 1986 Fleer in 2021 and making the Star the most valuable Jordan rookie card for the first time in 27 years; less than four months later another private sale of a PSA 9 was reported above $1 million. In early 2026 a copy graded BGS 9 sold for $387,484, more than triple the previous record for that grade, and a factory-sealed 1984 Star Bulls team bag with the Jordan sold in the same auction for $98,245.

How to tell a real one

Start with centering. A genuine #101 is almost always off-center left to right, with the wider border on the right. A perfectly centered copy is either a rare find, a trimmed card or a fake, and a wider left border is a warning sign. Full-size copies measure 3.5 inches top to bottom; most are cut shorter.

Then use a loupe. On genuine cards the color in the Bulls logo, including the face and horn tips, is built from tiny round dots; one well-known counterfeit uses fine vertical lines instead. Common fakes show a dull, dark face, a 'bald' look at the top of Jordan's head, fuzzy lettering, missing pixels in the logo's black outline, and backs that print darker with smudged ink on the borders.

At this level the grade is the price. A year apart, a PSA 8 brought $244,000 and a BGS 8.5 brought $49,100, so results swing widely by grade and by grading company. Population reports change constantly, so the count of higher-graded copies cited at any sale is a snapshot.

The numbers

1984-85 season (card year)

82 G, 38.3 MPG, 28.2 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 5.9 APG, 2.4 SPG, .515 FG%, .845 FT%, 2,313 points

1984-85 honors

Rookie of the Year, All-Star, All-NBA Second Team, All-Rookie First Team, 6th in MVP voting

1985 playoffs

4 G, 29.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 8.5 APG

1984 Olympics

Team-leading 17.1 PPG; gold medal in Los Angeles

1986-87 season

37.1 PPG, 3,041 points, league scoring title

Career

15 seasons, 1,072 games, 32,292 points, 30.1 PPG; 6 titles, 5 MVPs, 10 scoring titles; Hall of Fame 2009

Timeline

1. Feb 17, 1963

   Michael Jordan is born in Brooklyn.

2. 1982

   Topps' 1981-82 basketball set is its last; licensed NBA cards stop.

3. 1983

   Star Company takes the NBA license and issues a 32-card All-Star set in mid-1983.

4. Jun 19, 1984

   The Bulls draft Jordan third overall.

5. Aug 1984

   Jordan wins Olympic gold in Los Angeles.

6. Oct 26, 1984

   Jordan debuts at Chicago Stadium.

7. 1984

   During Jordan's rookie season, Star issues its 288-card 1984-85 set in team bags; Jordan is #101 in the Bulls bag.

8. 1985

   Jordan is named Rookie of the Year.

9. 1986

   Fleer returns basketball cards to packs with Jordan's #57, two years after the Star card.

10. 1997

    Star's founder sells backdated reprint Star cards on television; the NBA sues.

11. 2008

    A second grading company begins grading Star cards.

12. Nov 2022

    A PSA 7 copy sells for $15,600.

13. 2023

    The leading grading company is grading Star cards again (one account says 2022).

14. May 2024

    A PSA 9 sells privately for $925,000, a record for any Jordan rookie card.

15. 2024

    A PSA 8 sells at auction for $244,000 after 31 bids, a record for the grade.

16. 2024

    Less than four months after the $925,000 sale, another PSA 9 private sale is reported above $1 million.

17. Feb 4, 2026

    A BGS 9 sale of $387,484 is reported, more than triple the prior record for the grade.

The world in 1984

• Apr 23, 1984

  U.S. health officials announce the identity of the virus that causes AIDS.

• Jun 25, 1984

  Prince releases Purple Rain.

• Jul 28, 1984

  The Summer Olympics open in Los Angeles.

• Sep 10, 1984

  Jeopardy! begins its syndicated run with Alex Trebek.

• Nov 6, 1984

  Ronald Reagan defeats Walter Mondale, carrying 49 states.

• Aug 26, 1985

  Jordan shatters a backboard with a dunk at an exhibition in Trieste, Italy.

Daily price data

FLOAT reprices this card every day from completed sales. Last updated November 12, 2026.

No completed sale at PSA 8 is on record yet. The same card at other grades:

Every grade and recorded sale for this card

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1984-85 Star Michael Jordan #101 XRC is number 26 of 100 in the trading cards entries of the FLOAT 100. 97 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (33 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• You could not buy this card in a pack: Star sold it only in a sealed bag with the rest of the 1984-85 Bulls.
• The card shows Jordan grabbing a rebound, not dunking.
• Because #101 sat in the top left corner of the printed sheet, almost every copy is off-center with a wider right border.
• Star's own founder was sued by the NBA over backdated reprints he sold on television in 1997, though the #101 Jordan was not among them.
• For years the leading grading company would not grade Star cards at all because of forgeries.
• In May 2024 the Star card became the most valuable Jordan rookie card for the first time in 27 years.
• A sealed 1984 Star Bulls team bag, Jordan inside, sold for $98,245 in 2026.