When Nike co-founders Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman set out to design and sell sneakers in 1964 (then under the name Blue Ribbon Sports), they never thought about creating enduring pieces of pop culture, art and history. They just wanted to make the best performance track and field shoes they could.

55 years later, Nike has evolved to not only the largest performance apparel brand in the world, but as a chief curator of art and culture. Nike has collaborated with everyone from the world’s greatest athletes, to its most popular musicians, to its most creative artists, creating timeless sneakers which fetch unconscionable sums of money on secondary markets and at charitable auctions. Not unlike paintings or sculptures, it has conceived pieces of wearable art that sell for thousands upon thousands of dollars. What separates these uber-elusive products from your standard “hype” release or an annual signature basketball sneaker is the perfect concoction of timeless design, necessary demand and a rare sneaker’s most valuable resource, scarcity.

Hunting down rare sneakers is nothing new here at Grailed. We scour the marketplace every single week to bring you elusive kicks from all around the world. But these aren’t the rarest Nikes of the week or the hyped sneaker collab du jour, these are the rarest Nikes ever (in no particular order).

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