Ask a lot of longtime collectors which Jordan they'd actually hang on the wall, and a surprising number say this one. The 1987-88 Fleer #59 — his second-year card, the red, white, and blue border framing Jordan rising for a jumper — is, purely as an object, one of the best-looking cards he ever appeared on.
It will never carry the rookie's title, and it doesn't try to. What it offers is the same early-Jordan era and a design a good many collectors think is better, on a card that has never had to carry the word rookie.
Never the rookie. Often, to the people who look hardest, the better card.
Like everything from the era, condition is the whole game. The colored borders show every nick and the centering wanders, so gem copies are genuinely tough. It is a card that photographs beautifully and survives badly, which is an unusual combination on a Jordan.