Most Type 1 Jordan photographs are black and white — wire service prints from the press pools of the 1980s. A full color original from the championship era is a fundamentally different artifact. The reds of the Bulls uniform are vivid. The blue of the Knicks jerseys is sharp. The crowd in the background is alive with color. This is not a document from a distant era. It feels immediate.

The composition is exceptional by any standard. Jordan's outstretched arm reaching toward the basket mirrors the pose of God's hand in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam — an observation made by the original listing and impossible to unsee once noticed. Three Knicks players — Hall of Famer candidates, professional athletes at the peak of their careers — are reduced to spectators. They are simply watching.

The clean back — no stamps, no wire captions, no library markings — tells its own story. This print did not circulate through the wire service system. It came from somewhere more private. A photographer's archive. An agency file. It was held, not distributed. That exclusivity is part of what makes it remarkable.