Bidding for rare Mike Trout-signed baseball card to start at $1 million

A one-of-a-kind Mike Trout baseball card is set to go up for auction with a minimum bid of $1 million.

Only one autographed Mike Trout rookie card was included in the 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Superfractor series. The card is in mint condition, graded by Beckett Grading Service as a Mint 9 with a certified autograph issue logo on the card attesting to the authenticity of the signature.

Goldin Auctions sold a Trout Red Refractor card -- one of five made -- graded as a BGS 9.5 Mint in May for $922,500. A LeBron James card was then sold, on July 19, for $1.845 million, breaking the modern card record.

Goldin Auctions believes this Trout card,with its minimum bid of $1 million, has an opportunity to break the record from James and could compete with any card it has sold in the past.

"We have the record for the most valuable trading card ever sold with the T206 Honus Wagner card that sold for $3.12 million back in September of 2016, and we believe this Trout card can surpass that record," Goldin Auctions founder Ken Goldin said.

The Trout card, which will be up for auction starting Tuesday, had been sold recently. In 2018, the card was put up for sale on eBay and sold for $400,000 from a seller based in Taiwan. The modern card market has seen an increase in popularity of late, and more recent cards have been selling for more.

Goldin Auctions cannot disclose sale information for private sales, but according to the auction house, it has sold 20 modern cards for over $500,000.