"[14] These discrepancies were taken advantage of by so-called "card doctors", who trimmed corners and dirty edges to improve the appearance of the card. Meanwhile, a number of card collectors who doubted the card contacted eBay and demanded that the card's listing on the website be removed. And in this guide well dive into what makes this card so special, why its so valuable, and what youll have to do to acquire one. Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson, authors of The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card, asked why Wagner would compensate Gruber for $10, a substantial amount of money at the time (approximately equal to $275 in 2016), if he refused authorization for monetary reasons. Another raw T206 Wagner can be found at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Stay up to date on all the latest sports card and memorabilia news, articles, and products by subscribing to our newsletter below: i found 6 honus wagner cards they are not a reproduction they are the real thing what would be a good place to sell them at they are in mint condition, I just found 3 rare cards in mint condition, what do I need to do to get graded and put up for auction. The T206 Honus Wagner card is not the oldest card ever. The T206 Honus Wagner is considered to be the Holy Grail of all trading cards. In February, 2007, Siegel then sold the card privately to an anonymous collector for $2.35 million. And it is through the roof. Widely considered the most valuable baseball card of all-time, the T206 Honus Wagner has been the subject of great debate and, at times, controversy. The consultant stated that a decent counterfeit of the card could only be produced from a "master pressman with 510 years experience, and would require a machine which would cost between $500,000 and $2 million. I am new to this. Honus Wagner 1909-1911 T206 White Border THE CARD THE PLAYER ARTICLES This is the Holy Grail of all trading cards. (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.) Ray would not say where he acquired the card, to this day . It was produced in 1995 by Wagner Estate. [21], The reasons for Wagner's strong negative reaction to the ATC's request have been the subject of much speculation. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2008-2023 The Cardboard Connection. By last count, there have been 57 known examples. [37], The circumstances regarding how Ray came into possession of the Gretzky T206 Wagner have been shrouded in mystery. Additionally, many leading hobby experts regarded the card as a fake, including PSA president, Joe Orlando. '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. Now, one of the hobby's most famous copies of the rare T206 Honus Wagner card is coming back on the auction block for the first time in nine years. In his work Inside T206: A Collector Guide to the Classic Baseball Card Set, Scot A. [25] This theory has its flaws, however, since Wagner sent Gruber a check for $10 to compensate him for the fee ATC would have paid him if Wagner had given permission to create his baseball card. If so, then please fill out the form below and I'll be in touch right away. Examining Font In Player's Name On Front Of T206 Card One of the first areas to examine when authenticating a T206 card is the front text area where the player's last name and team name are located on the bottom of the card. The card is a T206 Honus Wagner -- one of the move coveted sports cards on the planet -- that dates back to 1909. Mastro eventually sold the card to Jim Copeland, a sporting goods magnate, for nearly four times the price he had originally paid. [84] In May 2020, Gregorio Amor and a team of investors, purchased the card. They had to shut down the sale, however, because Connelly only agreed to appraise the card if his report was printed in its entirety at the eBay card listing. Card is in Near Mint to Mint condition. The other Piedmont-backed card belongs to a collector from Virginia. One thing is certain, whenever a T206 Honus Wagner is sold, it will make national headlines. Update, August 16: The T206 Honus Wagner sold for a record $6.6 million. Meanwhile, HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel decided to cover the progress of Cobb and Edwards' struggles with the card. Buy from many sellers and get your cards all in one shipment! The bidding for the Pirates' legend's card began on July 23 and opened at $1 million. Even the most beat up copies of the T206 Honus Wagner sell for at least six figures, just as long as it's deemed authentic. The story of the most famous and valuable baseball card in the world continues to be told. Rosie It sounds most definitely like a reprint if it has that story on the back. Three are also known to have the Piedmont backing, making it the rarest version of all. It seems that on a regular basis, a T206 is sold for a record amount. This ungraded or "raw" card, as it's referred to in the hobby, is currently housed at the New York Public Library. 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. Bill Hughes[33] was the official grader of the card, working for PSA at the time. (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 . Produced by the American Tobacco Company for its T206 series of baseball cards between 1909 and 1911, the Wagner has reached such mythical proportions that it is often simply called The Card. Connelly consented and took the card across the country to prospective buyers. - Goldin Auctions", "Honus Wagner baseball card sells privately for $1.2 million", "ESPN: Rare Honus Wagner card sells for record $6.6M", "Half of rare Honus Wagner baseball card auctioned for nearly $500,000", "Holy Grail of baseball cards a Honus Wagner T-206 sells for record $7.25 million", The T206 Collection The Player & Their Stories, Baseball's Last Hero: 21 Clemente Stories, Bill Mazeroski's 1960 World Series home run, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=T206_Honus_Wagner&oldid=1151100663, Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. He played for the Louisville Colonels and thePittsburgh Pirates. It's expected to sell for a seven-figure price tag. The front of all T206 series cards, including the Wagner card, displayed a lithograph of the player[15] created by a multi-stage printing process in which a number of colors were printed on top of each other to create a lithograph with the appropriate design. Not all Honus Wagner baseball cards have been professionally graded by PSA or SGC. [35] Bill Mastro, a sports memorabilia dealer who later founded Mastro Auctions and became one of the most powerful figures in the industry, heard the news, and immediately jumped on the offer. And perhaps no card is as revered as a T206 Honus Wagner. The T-206 is one of the reasons I do what I do and why serious collectors around the world love this hobby so much. [75] Connelly met a card dealer in New York City, Mike Mangasarian, who was sent on behalf of a prominent collector to check the card out. The front and back of the T206 Honus Wagner being sold by Robert Edward Auctions. [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). Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1992 Baseball Silver Card 1oz. This particular T206 Honus Wagner stands out from other known examples and therefore gives it placement as a top-notch specimen. The technical grade includes the MC qualifier. . Seller information. Heck, or even one worth $450,000 for that matter! So this Wagner is a collectible that really does transcend the hobby.. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. 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. your purchase may be eligible for eBay Money Back Guarantee if the return request is made within 14 days from delivery. 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. While industry experts cite various factorsamong them, a rediscovery of the hobby during Covid-19 lockdowns, buzz from social media influencers, uncertainty about the stock market and a building interest in alternative assets combined with a lack of financial regulations in the card spacethere is no one explanation for the sharp rise in the market. 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. He didn't like the idea of how it might encourage kids to use tobacco. Otherwise, checking out PSA (psadna.com) and having them check it out, although this costs money. How do I contact the PSA or BVG for authenticity? It was later revealed that the anonymous collector was former major league pitcher Tom Candiotti. Because of a dispute Wagner had with American Tobacco, the company that produced the card, his card was pulled from production. And from there, who knows? 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. 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. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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[3] The card's odd texture and shape led to speculation that it was altered. Burdick had his reason. A fake T206 Honus Wagner card in a fake 'basement grading' deceitful card holder. [45] In 1993, illusionist David Copperfield used the popularity of the card as part of a magic trick which he performed during a TV Special. Classic in size, the cards measure 1-7/16 by 2-5/8 inches and part of a 524-card set. [77], An authentic card is held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.[78]. 1 one month into the season? How much does using PSA cost? This is an authentic reprint of the famous 1909 Tobacco Honus Wagner Baseball Card. This would account for its almost impossible-to-believe Near Mint condition. Only time will tell if other examples are waiting to be discovered. It's the face of an entire hobby. [56] The anonymous collector was later revealed to be Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick. The figure eclipsed the $6.606 million fetched for another T-206 Wagner almost a year ago to the day. Produced by the American Tobacco Company for its T206 series of baseball cards between 1909 and 1911, the Wagner has reached such mythical proportions that it is often simply called The Card. Wagner refused to allow production of his baseball card to . [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. An owner of a Long Island sports memorabilia store announced that a man named Alan Ray was selling his 1909 T206 Wagner for $25,000. I know we're all dealing with inflation but . The bidding prices far exceeded the pre-auction estimates, as a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card sold for $49,500, more than three times the initial pre-auction price estimate. Linda (ID 58011) Once proven authentic, the card is potentially worth A LOT. The card, produced by the American Tobacco Co. between 1909 and 1911 as part of what is now known as the T206 series of baseball cards, is in extremely limited supply and has been setting price. The publicity coverage of the Sotheby's auction renewed interest in the hobby of sports memorabilia collecting. Other notable authentic T206 Wagner cards, The PSA grades card based on a 110 scale. No matter what condition the card it is in, it should sell for at least six figures! It is in excellent condition. See questions and answers Very small. It sold for about $316,000 in 2010 and the strip includes other players, including Cy Young, Mordecai Brown, Johnny Kling, and Frank Bowerman. 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. When it came time for that card to come out, it wasn't that he wasn't paid. "[73] Cobbs and Edwards later went to an Ohio paper industry consultant who confirmed that the card was from 1909. In 2010, the fabled T206 Honus Wagner card once again gained national notoriety when a new card was found. There's really no way of knowing for certain. A print of the rare Wagner card with the bottom right corner missing went for $475,959 in an SCP auction on Saturday, the same day an autographed card of 18-year-old Yankees prospect Jasson Dominguez fetched $474,000 in a Goldin Auction. Note: Please note that this card is not an originally issued card, but rather a Reprint of the Original. The next year, a Florida postal worker won the card and auctioned it at Christie's for $640,000 to collector Michael Gidwitz. Do you guys have any information on the Honus Wagner card up that is up for auction now at Goldin Auctions? This is when Gretzky approached the Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) company to grade the card, resulting in the aforementioned PSA 8 NM-MT grading. In April 2011, that anonymous purchaser was revealed to be Ken Kendrick, owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks. [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). My son has a T206 Honus Wagner card and we are trying to figure out if it is a reprint or what. We have 100's of thousands of cards, comics, records, coins, posters, and other collectiblesso check back often. Gretzky, who was not a major card collector, said he purchased it because he thought "the market would remain strong," thus making for a valuable investment. Other T206 Wagners, both legitimate and fake, have surfaced in recent years. But it's believed there may be less than 60. Walton, however, never paid, and Heritage Auctions subsequently contacted one of its longtime clients, Nicholas DePace, a New Jersey cardiologist, who immediately agreed to buy the card for the same price. 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. The 1909-11 T206 card was graded in Good 2 condition on a scale of 1 to 10 from Sportscard Guaranty Corp (SGC). Despite PSA company president David Hall's personal statement that the card was "superb" and a "fantastic card in every way," a number of people in the memorabilia industry were not convinced that the card had not been altered at some point. The March 1991 auction attracted nearly 800 collectors who were interested in purchasing some of Copeland's rare memorabilia. By the time Wagner, a legendary Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop, was selected as one of five members of the Baseball Hall of Fames inaugural class in 1936, the cards value was being recognized. In 2019, Rally Rd announced that it was going to begin selling shares in the card at $52 each. Its called the Jumbo Wagner. Payment details. Gretzky resold the card four years later to Walmart and a company called Treat Entertainment for $500,000. The "MC" in the grade refers to the fact that it was miscut, hence its extra size. . And finally, we get to. The exact reason for this has become something of legend, but it has been widely accepted to be one of two scenarios. 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. 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? The first thing people usually ask is: how much is a T206 Honus Wagner card worth? Wagner played baseball from 1897 to 1917. 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. Wagner refused to allow production of his baseball card to continue, either because he did not want children to buy cigarette packs to get his card, or because he wanted more compensation from the ATC. [4] A different card, named the "Jumbo Wagner", was sold at auction again in 2016 for a record $3.12 million. I thought I was Lucky to own 3 52 Mantles. A rare, century-old Hogus Wagner baseball card previously owned by actor Charlie Sheen will be auctioned later this month with an estimated value of US$3 million, according to . This card is so famous that even individual specimens have their own unique names, individual stories and fame. Kindest regards. A T206 Wagner owned by renowned collector Frank Nagy sold for $456,000 in December 2005, through Mastro's auction company. 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. Robert Edwards Auctions, a division of MastroNet, set up a registration system in which they approved prospective individuals before they actually made bids. PSA is considered to be the benchmark in the vintage card grading industry so collectors put heavy premiums on their graded cards. [70] Cobb, like Mastro back in the late 1980s, does not divulge the exact details of how he came to own the card. These dimensions far exceed the standard size for a T206 baseball card, virtually preserving a Near Mint example within its boundaries. Factoring in the 20% buyers premium that REA collects puts the official price above $4.8 million. That looks like an even better bargain after a 2009 Mike Trout rookie card set a baseball card record at $3.9 million last August and a 1952 Mickey Mantle beat it with a $5.2 million sale price in January. Additionally, he stated that he was not comfortable with the print process exhibited on the card's front. Another example sold for $6.6 million in August 2021, making it the most expensive sports card. I guess the next step is to take it to a local baseball card place. As from the description from the. Of course, how to spot a fake Honus Wagner is a skill a LOT of people could use, so with that, here are some tips. [65], A similar but unaltered card, the 'Jumbo Wagner', also has a NM-MT grade quality for the majority of the card, but the lower quality edges have not been trimmed, lowering it from NM-MT to an overall grade of PSA 5 one of only three (along with Mastro's trimmed card) rated PSA 5 or better sold at a 2013 auction for $2,105,770.50. Gidwitz dropped out of the competition when the bidding reached the $300,000 mark. It doesnt have his name on the front but the ink is brown on the team name. Just a short six months later, the card was sold to another anonymous collector for $2.8 million. The most commonly told account is that Wagner rejected the deal because he did not want young baseball fans to purchase the tobacco packs for his baseball card. The card long had a controversial past, as some speculate that it was once altered, most likely having been trimmed or cut from an undistributed sheet. However, a handful are known to have the Sweet Caporal 150 Series-Factory 30 advertisement. Mastro offered one of the other T206 Wagner cards in his personal collection to Lifson as payment for the $25,000 that Lifson fronted him for the Gretzky T206 Wagnerclaiming that Lifson could sell the lower quality one for $30,000 and make a quick $5,000 profit. According to PSA, current market values in various conditions are: Can you imagine owning a baseball card worth $7.5 million dollars? This is a sharp reprint of the famous T-206 Wagner card. [11] Some cards were awkwardly shaped or irregularly sized, which prompted a belief that many of the cards in the series had been altered at one point or another. Then who knows. We've received your submission. [10] During the presidency of "trust-buster" Theodore Roosevelt, the ATC was subjected to legal action from the government, in hopes of shutting down the monopoly in the industry. 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. He tried to avoid answering any questions regarding the matter but, in a 2001 interview, claimed to have received it from a relative, whose name he did not disclose. Less than six months later, the card was sold to another anonymous collector for $2.8 million. With this proof as their claim to credibility, they proceeded to list the card on eBay but eventually had the listing removed due to the overwhelming number of questions the online auction marketplace received about the cards authenticity. After years of refusing to have the card graded, the owners agreed to have the card examined by a fringe grading service, Card Collector Services, who also ruled that the card was simply a well-produced reprint. Contact him at [emailprotected]. http://goldinauctions.com/LotDetail.aspx?lotid=1861 According to an October 12, 1912, issue of The Sporting News, Wagner did not give his consent to appear on the baseball card. Copeland's sizable transaction revitalized interest in the sports memorabilia collection market. 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. 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. [66], The Honus Wagner card was first reissued by Topps in 2002, with variations on its background color. The size and scope of the deal revitalized interest in the sports memorabilia market as investors saw it as a means of sheltering money in turbulent economic times, free from the volatility of the stock market and other traditional investment tools. An IPS expert determined that the card dated back to 1910, which would be consistent to the time period when the card was distributed. Courtesy SCP Auctions The damaged Wagner card sold at auction recently for $475,960. [8], In October 2013, Bill Mastro, CEO of Mastro Auctions (the owner of Robert Edward Auctions) pleaded guilty to mail fraud in U.S. District Court and later admitted to the court that he had trimmed the "Gretzky" Wagner card to sharply increase its value.[9]. It is the highest graded example to hit the market in the past six . Brian Dwyer, owner and president of Robert Edward Auctions and who brokered the T206 sale, spoke with The Athletic on Tuesday . [74], A few months after the sale, Edwards asked Connelly if he would accept the card for his auction. Its the most valuable baseball card ever sold. [18][19] Wagner had been at the top of his game throughout the decade, and was even considered to be the game's greatest player at the time. 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. Of course the famous Wagner T206 card has also added to the legend of "The Flying Dutchman." The Gretzky T206 Wagner was first sold by collector Alan Ray to the famed sports memorabilia dealer named Bill Mastro, the one-time owner of Mastro Auctions. 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. 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. Unsurprisingly, the ATC asked for Wagner's permission to have his picture on a baseball card.

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