I’ve never been much of a sneaker head personally, but I am well aware of how valuable shoe collections can be to the right people. As much as people love collecting things, there comes a time when you are strapped for cash and something has to give.
That’s exactly what happened with a Chinese man recently, as he parted with his shoe collection so that he could make a deposit on his new apartment.
The man, known only as “Mick”, parted with 283 pairs from his collection after visiting a Beijing pawn shop, Chinese news site Sina reports
The young man agreed to part with the shoes after being offered one million Yuan or $205,156 for them.
A breakdown of the deal means the young man made around $725 for each pair of the sought after sneakers.
Mick plans to use the money to put a deposit on a property in Beijing before he gets married.
The manager of the pawn store told the media outlet the young man’s collection is the largest haul of sneakers he has ever seen.
Mick has two months to buy his shoes back, which the pawn shop staff said will cost him more almost $370,000, according to Business Insider.
He started collecting the sports shoes when he was 14-years-old after playing basketball and wanting the same shoes as his idol, former Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan.
The gem in his collection is said to be a pair of sneakers from 1993 signed by the Chicago Bulls championship-winning team.
The interesting part is that he didn’t sell the shoes outright, but he decided to pawn them. So he intends to go back and get those shoes at some point, but he will cost him almost $400,000 to get them back. I don’t know what Mick does for a living, but I hope he is able to get his collection back.