- A volunteer at a shelter in Portland knew the gold Nikes he found in a donation bin were unique.
- The gold Nikes, designed for filmmaker Spike Lee, ended up selling at auction for $50,800.
- The money from the sale will go to the shelter. The identity of the person who donated them is unknown.
A pair of gold Nikes found in a donation bin at a shelter in Portland, Oregon, sold at auction for $50,800, a sum that will go directly to the shelter.
A volunteer at the Portland Rescue Mission found the shoes while sorting through donations in April, CNN affiliate KPTV reported. The gold-painted sneakers turned out to be the Spike Lee Air Jordan 3 'Oscar' model, made for the filmmaker to wear to the Academy Awards in 2019, when he won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for BlacKkKlansman. The shoes found were not Lee's shoes, but one of several pairs made of the shoe, according to Fortune. The shoes were not released to the public.
Tinker Hatfield, the designer of the shoe, visited the Portland Rescue Mission to confirm that the shoes were genuine, according to the auction house Sotheby's, and told the workers, "I'm thrilled the shoes ended up here. It's a happy ending to a really great project."
Sotheby's expected the sneakers to sell for between $15,000 to $20,000, according to the online listing.
Video shared by KPTV showed workers at the mission celebrating when they learned they had actually sold for $50,800. All the proceeds from the sale of the shoe will go towards the Portland Rescue Mission.
"It's remarkable how this whole thing came about. I'm just fortunate to be a part of this," the volunteer who found the shoe told the outlet. "This is going to take care of so many people in so many different ways."
The identity of the person who donated the shoes is still unknown.
Watch: This is what a $20,000 collection of 100 sneakers looks like in a tiny NYC apartment
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