[50], Michael Gidwitz, the same individual who battled with Gretzky and Mark Friedland for the card at the Copeland auction in 1991, won the Christie's auction with a bid of $641,500 in 1996 (equivalent to $1,108,367 in 2021). [71] When Cobb and Edwards tried to sell the card on eBay in 2002, an attorney from Newport, Kentucky (part of the Cincinnati metro) filed a police report against the two men because he believed the card was a reprint that was stolen from his office months earlier. 2) T206s are on thin, off-white card stock. However, a handful are known to have the Sweet Caporal 150 Series-Factory 30 advertisement. The folklore of the card hinges on its uber-rarity (somewhere between 50 and 60 copies exist) and multiple theories on why so few Wagners exist, including: Wagner's printing plate breaking during production, A copyright dispute between artist and tobacco company, The most popular theory, offered up by Wagner's family and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, is that Wagner didn't want to promote smoking tobacco to children and asked the card be pulled from production, The most logical theory is Wagner realized he wouldn't be compensated fairly for his name, image and likeness and objected. David Thompson (ID 39461) The best place to start would be to go to your nearest shop, at least to get a ballpark figure based on condition. The two men, John Cobb and Ray Edwards, have tried to prove that their Piedmont-backed card is not a fake and, due to its excellent condition, should fetch over $1 million in an auction. your purchase may be eligible for eBay Money Back Guarantee if the return request is made within 14 days from delivery. This ungraded or "raw" card, as it's referred to in the hobby, is currently housed at the New York Public Library. He threatened to seek legal action against ATC if they went ahead and distributed his baseball card. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1992 Baseball Silver Card 1oz. While the sale is currently the overall record, there is a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card consigned to Heritage Auctions that closes in just over three weeks; it is sitting at $7.08 million with buyer's premium and is expected to near or eclipse $10 million at close. Five years later, in 2005, another PSA 2 card sold for $237,000. The card attracted lots of media attention over its questionable authenticity, including being a feature segment on the highly rated sports documentary program, HBO Real Sports. A PSA PR-FR 1 Wagner sold for $400,000 in 2009. The card was given this designation by PSA due to its oversized nature. An outraged Edwards dismissed the accusations as "bullshit," adding that they would not have been made "if we were white. 1. That's where the demand comes into play. In response to the authorization request letter sent by John Gruber, a Pittsburgh sportswriter hired by the ATC to seek Wagner's permission, Wagner wrote that he "did not care to have his picture in a package of cigarettes." What is my next step? According to an October 12, 1912, issue of The Sporting News, Wagner did not give his consent to appear on the baseball card. All Rights Reserved, T206 Honus Wagner Baseball History of the Worlds Most Famous Card, Bill Mastro admitted to trimming the card, 2022-23 Topps UEFA Club Competitions Variations Guide, Top Selling Sports Card and Trading Card Hobby Boxes Hot List, 2023 National Sports Collectors Convention Guide - Autograph Signers, 2023 Topps Home Run Challenge Baseball Cards Checklist and Game Details, 2022-23 Upper Deck Young Guns Rookie Card Checklist, Gallery & Hot List, http://goldinauctions.com/LotDetail.aspx?lotid=1861, 2022-23 Panini Select Premier League Soccer Cards Checklist Added, 2023 Panini Select Draft Picks Football Cards, 2022 Leaf Vivid Baseball Cards Checklist Added, 2023 Topps Game Within the Game Baseball Cards Checklist Gallery. The final bid was $700,000, but with a 13% buyer's premium added, the realized price was $791,000. There is no easy explanation, either, for the cool-down that much of the market has experienced over the last few months. The card was used as the grand prize in a promotional contest. The 1909-1911 T206 White Border set is the most valuable collection in the history of trading cards. The card is a T206 Honus Wagner -- one of the move coveted sports cards on the planet -- that dates back to 1909. While the card and memorabilia industry had been growing in recent years, the pandemic ignited a frenzy. [53][54] In February 2007, the Associated Press announced that Seigel had sold the card privately and directly to an anonymous collector from Southern California for $2.35 million (equivalent to $3.071million in 2021). Wagner was offered a $20,000 contract by the Chicago White Sox, but turned it down and continued to play with the Pirates. [52] On July 15, the card was sold to Brian Seigel, a collector from California, for $1.265 million (equivalent to $1.991million in 2021). PSAs website is psacard.com and their phone number is (800) 325-1121. Linda (ID 58009) Very nice. 'Believe in the power of cheese': How a group of rookies helped give the Brewers the best vibes in baseball, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. In April, 2011, the identity of the buyer was revealed to be Ken Kendrick, managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Now, Robert Edward Auctions has its hands on another Wagner. Perhaps, the most famous is the Gretzky T206 Honus Wagner. I have 100% real Honus Wagner card. "[72], Card Collector Services graded the card and officially ruled that it was indeed a reprint. It is graded PSA 1. He didn't want kids to have to buy tobacco to get his card. (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum) Surprisingly, the card's reverse has nothing to do with cigars or baseball, but instead features a poem, a parody of Joseph Bert Smiley's "St. Peter at the Gate," which promotes union labor and rails against . It may not look like much, or even resemble what we think of as a baseball cardthe shortstop sits upright, expressionless, in a fuzzy image against an unnatural orange background, no cap upon his headbut the T206 Honus Wagner just might be the single most valuable baseball collectible on earth. The Wagner card is considered to be the Mona Lisa of baseball cards. There is thought to be fewer than 50 authenticated copies in the industry. This is an authentic reprint of the famous 1909 Tobacco Honus Wagner Baseball Card. The T206 Honus Wagner baseball card depicts the Pittsburgh Pirates' Honus Wagner, known as "The Flying Dutchman," a dead-ball era baseball player who is widely considered to be one of the best players of all time. One such example is known in the industry as the 'Jumbo Wagner' [shown on the right]. The publicity the latest T206 Honus Wagner received proved, once again, that regardless of condition, deep-pocketed collectors and investors are willing to pay huge amounts for this rare card. Standard Shipping (eBay Standard Envelope for Trading Cards, Stamps, Postcards & Coins up to $20) Estimated between Fri, May 5 and Tue, May 9 to 23917 I imagine theyd be very eager to grade your card. Although not quite as valuable as the previously mentioned Gretzky and Jumbo Wagners, this card is still impressively expensive considering even in poor condition it has sold for six figures! [55] Less than six months later, on September 6, 2007, SCP Auctions announced that the card had been sold once again to another anonymous collector for $2.8 million (equivalent to $3.7million in 2021). This victory was a redemption of sorts for the Pirates team that six seasons prior had lost the inaugural World Series. A handful of other T206 Honus Wagner baseball cards have surfaced in recent years, some real and some not. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2008-2023 The Cardboard Connection. I know we're all dealing with inflation but . The technical grade includes the MC qualifier. These dimensions far exceed the standard size for a T206 baseball card, virtually preserving a Near Mint example within its boundaries. [47] On February 24, 1996 (the 122nd anniversary of Wagner's birthday), the grand prize drawing for the card was held on CNN's Larry King Weekend. Honus Wagner 1914 Cracker Jack E145-1 #68 The beauty of the 1914 Cracker Jack set has not been forgotten. Card is in Near Mint to Mint condition. In 2010, a PSA Authentic/Altered Wagner sold for $219,225. (Wagner demanded that the ATC stop printing his image, either because he and the company couldnt agree on his compensation or because, in the more apocryphal version of the story, he didnt want to encourage children to buy cigarettes and pick up a bad habit.) A T206 Wagner given a two on the PSA's 110 grading scale sold for $75,000 in September 2000. It's expected to sell for a seven-figure price tag. help!!! Authentic versions have a tobacco ad on the back. . Gidwitz dropped out of the competition when the bidding reached the $300,000 mark. Ray, who later stated he "had a money situation," agreed to Mastro's terms of the deal. MLB Power Rankings: Who's No. Do you guys have any information on the Honus Wagner card up that is up for auction now at Goldin Auctions? Only time will tell if other examples are waiting to be discovered. Ive been in this business for a very long time and seen a lot of incredible trading cards and pieces of memorabilia, but there is nothing on earth like a T-206 card, Ken Goldin, the Goldin executive chairman and founder, said in a news release. That blew away the previous. His granddaughter, Blair, remarked that "[h]e loved children. [7] That is, until August 2022 when another 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card sold for $12.6 million becoming the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia in history. An authentic card is part of the Leopold Morse Goulston Baseball Collection in The New York Public Library's George Arents Collection. Heritage Auctions handled the sale of the card, which exceeded pre-auction estimates. LOL! Contact seller; Similar to the All-Star Cafe / Sheen Wagner, this one also possesses rounded corners, creasing, and marking which is why it received the "MK" qualifier on its grade.. No T206 Honus Wagner card has graded higher than PSA 8 NM-MT but if one is ever to be found in better shape than thatwho knows what its value would be? Reader wrote that "[i]t is not at all uncommon to find T206 examples that have been altered at some point during their near-century of existence. Rare T-206 Wagner card sold for record $7.25M, Yankees put Judge on injured list with hip strain, Harper ready: 'Body has been very good to me', Braves OF Acuna (shoulder) day-to-day after HBP, Tatis fires up crowd in winning return to Petco Park, Giants place SS Crawford, OF Yastrzemski on IL, Astros' Urquidy lands on IL, Garcia exits start, What the longest game in MLB history says about baseball today, Mexico City's uphill climb toward landing an MLB franchise. I got extremely lucky. FREE shipping Add to Favorites RARE 1992 Honus Wagner "The Flying Dutchman" Framed Lithograph Print by Kelly Russell Studios, Inc. #1595 Cooperstown Collection 5 out of 5 stars (145 . It is in excellent condition. Copperfield had Gretzky sign a reprint of the card, then proceeded to tear the card into four pieces, after which he restored it and magically removed the signature. I guess the next step is to take it to a local baseball card place. Gretzky resold the card four years later to Walmart and Treat Entertainment for $500,000 for use as the top prize in a promotional contest. It should be pre-80s. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1987 Hygrade All-Time Greats Red Back Honus Wagner T-206 - GD/VG at the best online prices at eBay! Regardless, it's still a great baseball card and last sold for $403,664 in 2014. There are only 60 Honus Wagner baseball cards left in the world, ESPN estimates, and the last time one went to marketin Aug. 2021it sold for $6.6 million, becoming the most expensive sports . [83] It is currently on display in the Rally Rd Showroom in the Soho section of New York City. We have 100's of thousands of cards, comics, records, coins, posters, and other collectiblesso check back often. [63] In August 2015, Mastro was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison under a new plea agreement. Within five years, Copeland decided it was time to sell his card collection; he chose to sell his entire 873-piece collection in a single sale, through Mastro. Honus Wagner card. The T206 Honus Wagner card is one of the most valuable cards in the hobby. With more than a week remaining for potential buyers to enter the fray, the bidding has leapt across 18 bids from a reserve price of $1 million all the way up to $4,005,519. The way that the bid increments are structured, one more bid will push the price past $5 million. They should be able to tell pretty quick. The next year, a Florida postal worker won the card and auctioned it at Christie's auction house for $640,000. My sentiments exactly gentlemen..Very very unkikely if not a guarantee that not a single card of the 10 mentioned here are authentic. Copeland's sizable transaction revitalized interest in the sports memorabilia collection market. In 2015, Robert Edward Auctions sold one off for $1.32 million, considered a steal even at the time. [1] The card was designed and issued by the American Tobacco Company (ATC) from 1909 to 1911 as part of its T206 series. The next year, a Florida postal worker won the card and auctioned it at Christie's for $640,000 to collector Michael Gidwitz. United States v. American Tobacco Company, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, "Holy Grail: The T206 Honus Wagner (ESPN Films' 30 For 30 Shorts)", "Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick reveals $2.8 million secret Honus Wagner card", "Honus Wagner baseball card sells for new record $3.12 million", "1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card sells for record $5.2 million", "Honus Wagner Card Sells For $6.6 Million, The Third Record Baseball Card Sale In A Year", "Bill Mastro admits cutting T206 Honus Wagner card, pleads guilty to mail fraud", "Wagner A Wonder: One Player In Game Who Is Not Money Mad", "eBay invokes new rules for baseball card auction", "World Record of $2.8 Million Paid for Famed T206 Honus Wagner Baseball Card", "Grantland's 30 for 30 series examines The Card - the T206 Honus Wagner", "Wagner's Wild Card: Mystery has surrounded Honus T206 since 1909", "Baseball's Card of Cards Is Up for Grabs", "Legendary T206 Honus Wagner Baseball Trading Card for Sale on eBay", "T206 Honus Wagner Sold on eBay for $1.265 Million;", "Honus Wagner card sold for $2.35 million", "Honus Wagner card sells for record $2.8 million", "Memorabilia dealer admits to altering famed $2.8 million Honus Wagner card", "Sports memorabilia king Bill Mastro indicted on fraud charges", "Bill Mastro Honus Wagner Altered: Dealer Cops To Doctoring Most Valuable Baseball Card Ever Sold", "Judge tosses out Mastro's plea deal again", "Mastro Released from Federal Prison Camp", "Goldin Auctions Winter 2013 Auction Offers The Rare Chance To Own One Of Only Three 1909 Honus Wagner T206 Graded Excellent 5 Or Higher By PSA", "A Q&A About the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Baseball Card Collection", "Nuns cash in big on sale of Honus Wagner T-206 card", "Christmas comes early, thanks to a Haddonfield physician", "Nuns' Honus Wagner card goes to new buyer", "Rally Rd. The card itself looks exactly as the original and is in mint condition. To give you an idea, here are four of the most popular cards from the sets and their respective populations (number of them graded) by PSA currently: So, that should give you a good picture of how scarce Wagner's card is relative to others in the set. [34], The Gretzky T206 Wagner first came to attention in 1985, when small-time Hicksville, New York card collector Alan Ray contacted Bob Sevchuk, the owner of a Long Island sports memorabilia store, to arrange a potential $25,000 deal for his T206 Honus Wagner card. The T206 Honus Wagner card has been cataloged as having two different backs, Sweet Caporal and Piedmont. [81] On December 20, 2010, after taking its 19.5 percent buyer's premium, the auction house sent $220,000 by bank wire to the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Honus Wagner in 1905 In 1901, the American League began to sign National League players, creating a bidding war, which depleted the league of many talented players. It sold for about $316,000 in 2010 and the strip includes other players, including Cy Young, Mordecai Brown, Johnny Kling, and Frank Bowerman. The T206 set itself is the most popular pre-War baseball card set in the hobby. Buy from many sellers and get your cards all in one shipment! Graded a PSA 5 EX (MC) by PSA, this is one of the highest graded Wagner's you'll find. Regardless of the specific reason, what is known is that, unlike other cards in the set, the T206 Honus Wagner is disproportionately short-printed compared to other cards in the series. Because the company came to monopolize the tobacco industry, ATC did not have to conduct advertising or promotions for its products. In 2010, a rare Honus Wagner was found in a box left by the brother of Sister Virginia Muller, who left all her possessions to the Baltimore-based School Sisters of Notre Dame. The winning bid was placed by Chicago collector, Michael Gidwitz. The front and back of the T206 Honus Wagner being sold by Robert Edward Auctions. Another raw T206 Wagner can be found at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1911 M116 Sporting Life BLUE TINT Ira Thomas Philadelphia Athletics SGC NM 7. This early 20th-century card of Honus Wagner is one of just two copies known to exist. There was also a private sale in June of a 1914 Babe Ruth card at a price that was said to beat $5.2 million but was not publicly disclosed. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. However, many long believed the card to have been trimmed at some point in order to achieve such a high grade. In later years, Mastro Auctions was the subject of an FBI investigation for using unscrupulous methods such as card doctoring, price-fixing and shill bidding to increase profits. Payment details. [58], Soon afterward, Alan Ray came back into the picture, claiming that he had proof the card had been doctored by Mastro at one point after the initial $25,000 trade in 1985. In 1939, for instance, a pioneering collector named Jefferson Burdick, who incidentally coined the T206 name for the series, valued the card at $50 (roughly $1,000 today, accounting for inflation); most other cards in his catalog were listed for less than $1. Thanks. On November 4, 2010, the final sale price exceeded the expectations of auctioneers at Dallas-based Heritage Auctions and sold for $262,000 to Doug Walton, a collector and card-shop owner. The card was printed with the original 1909 orange color (#179), and also in blue (#307) and red (#456). I think some of yall are telling fables.. Guaranteed not one of them is authentic. Since then, the card has changed hands a few times but remains known as the "Gretzky Wagner" to this day. And from there, who knows? There are a couple of theories as to exactly why this was the case: Either way, there just aren't many T206 Honus Wagners to go around. In 2000, the card was sold via Robert Edward Auctions to card collector Brian Seigel for $1.27 million. This card, which resides in one of the most popular sets of all time, features one of baseball's greatest players and it remains the symbol of trading card collecting. The 1909-11 T206 card was graded in Good 2 condition on a scale of 1 to 10 from Sportscard Guaranty Corp (SGC). A card collector by the name of Alan Ray first sold the card in 1985 to Bill Mastro, formerly of Mastro Auctions, who then sold the card to sporting goods retailer, James Copeland in 1987. Connelly consented and took the card across the country to prospective buyers. [4] A different card, named the "Jumbo Wagner", was sold at auction again in 2016 for a record $3.12 million. The second, and more probable, is that Wagner felt entitled to compensation from the American Tobacco Company for the use of his name and likeness to market their product. Most collectors equate Honus Wagner with his T206 card and aren't aware of his playing day and later year cards that can fit into some collector budgets. As a result, a number of previously interested collectors decided not to bid for the card at the auction the next day. [23], Another explanation surmised is that Wagner did not consent because he felt he was not receiving just compensation from the ATC for his baseball card. [70] Cobb, like Mastro back in the late 1980s, does not divulge the exact details of how he came to own the card. He had a photograph of the card taken before the transaction with Mastro and claimed that the card in the photo looked significantly different from the photo of Gretzky's card. Fun fact:this particular card was the first card that PSA ever graded. Burdick had his reason. The T206 Honus Wagner card is quite simply in a league of its own and a mere pipe dream for millions of collectors. [39] (Halper sold that card and 200 other baseball memorabilia items in 1998 to Major League Baseball for over $5,000,000. History is just a couple of mouse clicks away. Wagner, a Hall of Fame shortstop who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early 1900s, was said to be upset that his likeness was being used on a tobacco product. [12][13], The typical card in the T206 series had a width of .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}1+716 inches (3.65cm) and a height of 2+58 inches (6.67cm). Update, August 16: The T206 Honus Wagner sold for a record $6.6 million. Here's a look at five different price points at which this card has sold over the years: This card was part of a large find of T206 cards that made its way into the hobby from a collector in the Chesapeke Bay area. On August 3, 2022, a SGC Grade 2 T206 Honus Wagner card sold for $7.25 million in a private sale, breaking the record for the most expensive card. And it expects to see the record obliterated. A mangled Honus Wagner baseball card, graded and authenticated by PSA more than 25 years ago and stashed away by a collector ever since, just sold for way more than the average home in America. Ever since then, the card has dominated the record books. But the T206 Honus Wagner card he listed as the most expensive and valuable card of them all worth $50, about $1,000 in today's money. If so, then please fill out the form below and I'll be in touch right away. Let's take a look at some of the most famous: This is the finest known example of the T206 Honus Wagner card, having received a grade of 8 Near Mint - Mint from PSA in 1991. [48] At around 9:00p.m., Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson, one of King's guests on the show, pulled out the name of one Patricia Gibbs, a postal worker living in Hollywood, Florida. Sports Card Guaranty's population report shows they've graded 10. It's the face of an entire hobby. By last count, there have been 57 known examples. In 2010, the fabled T206 Honus Wagner card once again gained national notoriety when a new card was found. On May 28, 2019, it was announced that a PSA-graded 2 (Good) card was sold by private transaction to an unnamed buyer for $1.2M. Lifson was skeptical, but he took Mastro's word and accepted the deal, successfully selling this other Wagner card to New Jersey businessman Barry Halper for $30,000. However, this record was recently broken when a Mike Trout 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Superfractors series rookie card with a card count of 1 sold in August 2020 for a record setting $3.93 million, and pushed further back by a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card that sold for $5.2 million in November 2020,[6] making Wagner the third most valuable baseball card in the world. An IPS expert determined that the card dated back to 1910, which would be consistent to the time period when the card was distributed. Here's a look at some sales points of this card over the years: Because this particular T206 Honus Wagner card has an extra 1/16th of an inch of cardboard in its bottom border, it has been dubbed the "Jumbo Wagner".
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