New York, New York - A pair of sneakers just sold at auction for $1.8 million. What on earth makes them so valuable?

If you've ever heard of the Sotheby's auction house, you probably think of rare art or antiquities. Recently, the company facilitated the sale of the most expensive pair of shoes in history, and no, they didn't belong to a Roman emperor.

What could make a pair of very modern Nike Air Yeezy 1 Prototype shoes so valuable that someone would shell out nearly $2 million for them?

This particular pair of kicks was worn by rapper Kanye West (43) just once at the 2008 Grammy Awards.

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The shoes, made of black leather in sizes 45-46, were made exclusively for West's appearance and marked the beginning of his own shoe line.

$1.8 million is the highest price ever paid at public auction for a pair of sneakers, Sotheby's announced on Monday in New York.

The sneaker collector Ryan Chang had recently put the pair up for auction.

A new investment platform dedicated to sneakers called RARES purchased the pair for the record price.

"Our goal in purchasing such an iconic shoe – and a piece of history – is to increase accessibility and empower the communities that birthed sneaker culture with the tools to gain financial freedom through RARES," said Gerome Sapp, RARES co-founder & CEO.

RARES is an unusual company, offering SEC backed shares, and even fractional shares, in rare sneaker ownership.

Some commenters were upset that the once-worn shoes sold for more than one of Michael Jordan's game-worn jerseys.