A pair of sneakers, designed by Adidas and Meissen, the German porcelain maker, is on the auction block at Sotheby’s, one of the world’s largest brokers of fine and decorative arts, jewelry, real estate and collectibles.
The leather sneakers went up for auction on Monday.
Sotheby’s set a pre-sale estimate at $1 million. The auctioneer expects the final price to be at the higher end.
The design is based on Adidas’s ZX8000 shoe and painted by craftsmen from Meissen — a company that, for more than 300 years, has produced some of the world’s finest porcelain at a single production site, initially in Meissen’s Albrechtsburg and then at Meissen’s Triebischtal, from the beginning of the 1860s.
This is not the first time sneakers have fetched a record bid. Nike Air Jordan’s sold at Christie’s in August for $615,000, shown below.
“There is that shift in the market looking at these sneakers as art,” said Brahm Wachter, director of e-commerce development for Sotheby’s.
The sale runs online until December 16. Proceeds will go to the Brooklyn Museum in New York for its young person’s program.
Photos courtesy Adidas/Christie’s
