1996 Ultra Platinum Medallion Michael Jordan #P16 PSA 10 GEM MINT

Throughout the early 1990s, Fleer/SkyBox made its biggest impact on the trading card industry by releasing strong photography and designs across its many insert sets. However, the company lagged on the idea of parallels, as the 1996-97 Ultra set marked the first time the company offered multiple parallels for one of its checklists—a concept Upper Deck had introduced four years earlier. In 1996, the Ultra set featured the second edition of Gold Medallion parallels (1:12 packs) and the debut of scarcer Platinum Medallion cards (1:180). With 148 cards on the Series 1 Platinum Medallion checklist, it took an average of 26,640 packs to find a specific card, such as Michael Jordan’s #16 base issue. Featuring a holofoil pattern inside the Fleer Ultra logo and Jordan’s nameplate, the Platinum Medallions brought some sparkle to a well-designed, but condition-sensitive, base issue. Because of the full-bleed photography used on both sides of the cards, edge chipping is common, and only eight examples of Jordan’s Platinum Medallion card have earned a PSA 10 designation. Jordan makes an acrobatic move against Milwaukee Bucks center Benoit Benjamin on this card, scoring two of his 32 points on January 6, 1996, at the United Center. A blowout 113-84 victory gave the Bulls a 28-3 record, tying the NBA mark for best record through 31 games. Jordan, however, had concerns that the Bulls were dominating too much. “The mental challenge is to not get too complacent,” Jordan said. “That’s our attitude. We’ve got a veteran team that tries to stay focused.” Following Jordan’s lead—and his league-leading 30.4 points per game scoring average—Chicago cruised to a 72-10 win-loss record, an NBA standard that stood until 2016. Jordan, the regular-season MVP, led the Bulls to their fourth championship since 1991—and two more followed in 1997 and ’98. The certification number on this card has been checked against the third-party grader's online database and is active as of 03/21/2024.