Widely regarded as a grail Kobe Bryant rookie card, 1996-97 Skybox Premium Rubies is a notoriously condition-sensitive parallel with edge and corner wear commonplace. This often relegates most copies to the NRMT to NM-MT level. Locating a perfectly preserved example, like this Gem Mint PSA 10, is nearly impossible with only eighteen in existence.
Although not serial numbered like future Rubies/Star Rubies parallels, these cards were tough pulls. They fell just one per box in 1996-97 SkyBox Premium. That means one might end up opening 131 boxes of Series 1 to find any particular card, such as this Bryant. Even then, top condition was another challenging layer.
Simple in design, yet beautiful and rare, this is one of the best copies of one of Bryant's most attractive first-year cards.
This is one of just 18 copies of this card to earn a Gem Mint PSA 10 grade.
The certification number on this card has been checked against the third-party grader's online database and is active as of 03/03/2026.
