Throughout the early 1990s, Fleer/SkyBox made its biggest impact on the trading card industry by featuring strong photography and designs across its many insert sets. However, the company lagged on the idea of parallels. That started to change in the middle of the decade with the debut of the Gold Medallion parallel in the 1995-96 Ultra product.
Fleer brought the concept back in 1996-97, while also branching out to serial-numbered Platinum Medallion and Masterpiece issues. The Gold Medallion versions of Series 1 base cards, such as the Kobe Bryant seen here, were seeded 1:12 packs and feature gold foil stamping on the front and a G prefix added to the card number on the back. With 148 cards on the Series 1 checklist, the odds of pulling a Bryant was an extremely tough 1:1,776 packs.
The golden highlights of the card add to the card's already strong aesthetic qualities by giving it a team color match aspect as well.
PSA has graded the 1996-97 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion Kobe Bryant nearly 240 times. Of those, this is one of just six Gem Mint 10 copies.
The certification number on this card has been checked against the third-party grader's online database and is active as of 06/01/2026.
