Muhammad Ali's Draft Card to Auction with $5m Estimate

Muhammad Ali's draft card which was issued the day the Louisville Kentucky Draft Board ordered him to appear for induction will go under the hammer at a single-lot online auction at Christie's running October 10-28, and with an estimate of $3m-$5m.

This card, which Ali would have carried with him for years as required by law, comes from his descendants and is signed by J. Allen Sherman, Chairman of the local Draft Board. It is pointedly not signed by Muhammad Ali.

Ali's refusal in April of 1967 to be inducted into the United States Army helped to galvanize the antiwar movement in the U.S. and turned the sports legend into a civil rights leader. Stripped of his titles and his license to box, he lost prime years of his career as well as the ability to earn a living. Eventually, in 1971, Ali's conviction was overturned by a unanimous 8-0 decision of the United States Supreme Court.

“This is the first time collectors will be able to acquire a vital and intimate document connected to one of the most important figures of the last century," said Peter Klarnet, Senior Specialist, Americana, in the Book Department at Christie's. "Ali's stand against the Vietnam War draft changed America and the way his fellow athletes addressed the questions of their time."