To the untrained eye, it might look like just another used napkin. But the serviette, expected to fetch up to $635,000, was actually soccer legend Lionel Messi's springboard to greatness at FC Barcelona, and records the promise of a contract made to him at the tender age of 13.
The napkin has gone on show in New York to drum up interest, ahead of the start of bidding on March 18, against a backdrop of soaring interest in soccer memorabilia.
Though officially estimated to go for between $380,000 and $635,000, Ian Ehling, the head of fine books and manuscripts at Bonhams New York, said "I do expect it to sell for much more." Last December, a set of six shirts worn by the number 10 during Argentina's victorious Qatar World Cup campaign in 2022 sold for $7.8 million at auction at Sotheby's, exceeding estimates.
The story of the napkin has already been told many times in profiles of "Leo" Messi, one of the greatest players in soccer history, who now plays for Inter Miami.