A pair of rare Nike sneakers donated to a homeless shelter in Portland, Oregon, are being auctioned off and are expected to fetch as much as $20,000
PORTLAND, Ore. — The shiny, gold Nike sneakers were hard to miss in the donation pile at a shelter in Portland, Oregon, earlier this year.
They were Air Jordan 3s, size 12 1/2, and one of the few custom pairs made for filmmaker Spike Lee. Now they are being auctioned off, where they could fetch $20,000 to benefit the shelter.
The shoes were dropped anonymously into the Portland Rescue Mission donation chute in the spring. A formerly homeless man in the mission's long-term shelter program found them while sorting through donations and brought them to the attention of staff, according to a blog post on the mission's website this week.
Nike designer Tinker Hatfield designed the shoes in 2019 for Lee, who wore his pair to the Academy Awards that year as he accepted an Oscar for his “BlacKkKlansmen” screenplay. The donated sneakers were not Lee's personal pair, but were among a pair made for him to distribute to his inner circle, the Portland Rescue Mission said.
Hatfield visited the shelter and authenticated the shoes. He also signed a replacement box and donated other Nike merchandise. The company is based in nearby Beaverton, Oregon.
“I'm thrilled the shoes ended up here,” Hatfield said in a statement released by the Portland Rescue Mission. “It's a happy ending to a great project.”
The shoes will be auctioned at Sotheby's until Monday and could fetch between $15,000 and $20,000, according to the auction house. Sotheby's is waiving the fee, so all proceeds will benefit the shelter, which has been helping people struggling with homelessness, hunger and addiction since 1949.
The identity of the person who donated the shoes remains a mystery.