Barack Obama’s High School Jersey Sells for $120,000 at Auction

Former President Barack Obama’s high school basketball jersey sold at auction last weekend for a whopping $120,000, reports say.

The jersey sold by Heritage Auctions is thought to have been worn by Obama when he was a student at Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii, in the late 1970s. The winning anonymous bidder shelled out over $120,000 with fees, according to the Hill.

The winning bidder also won a 1979 Punahou School yearbook showing the man who would become president wearing the number 23 jersey. According to the auction house, the jersey sold is an exact match for the jersey in the yearbook photo.

However, it cannot be proven that the jersey sold is the exact one worn by the ex-president. Still, the provenance is close enough, at least for the winning bidder.

The jersey was put up for auction by one-time Punahou student Peter Noble who wore the jersey a few years after Obama graduated. Noble kept the jersey because he wore it for the school, but when he learned Obama also wore the same jersey number, his keepsake took on a greater value. Noble thinks his jersey is the same one Obama wore a few years before.

Noble also said that he would donate some of the proceeds from the sale to the school.

Reproduction Punahou School number 23 jerseys have been sold for years. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett was seen recently wearing just such a jersey.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.