If there’s one thing that’s held true in the sports card industry through the years, it’s that the Honus Wagner T206 card is always going to command a massive price tag.
Robert Edwards Auctions announced that an altered & creased Wagner T206 card sold for $1.5M following a 17 day auction that saw over 75 bids. Despite the poor condition (graded as Authentic – Altered by PSA), the fact of the matter remains, just over 50 copies of the card are known to exist in 2022 making it a highly desired grail card for collectors.
The story of Wagner pulling his own card out of circulation from the American Tobacco Company in 1909 is well documented. Equally famous as the card itself is the number of celebrities and athletes who have at one time owned a copy of the “Flying Dutchman”s card. A list that includes actor Charlie Sheen, and Wayne Gretzky amongst others.
While this particular copy of the card fell well short of the $6.6M record set back in August of 2021 (sold by the same auction house), it still became the 13th most expensive sports card ever sold. In fact, only 21 cards have ever broken the $1M mark in first place, and most of those cards were in MUCH better condition than this sample.
However, in the sports card world scarcity is everything. The card’s new owner, who chose to remain anonymous, can now boast that they own one of fewer than 60 known copies of arguably the most iconic sports card of all time.
“The results from this auction speak to the ever-present and growing demand for Wagner cards — which transcends the hobby — in any condition,” said president of Robert Edward Auctions, Brian Dwyer. “This card [sold] in 2019 for $540,000. That buyer purchased it in 2012 for $198,850. It’s exciting to see this card continue to rewrite the record books.”
Based on those figures, and factoring for inflation, that’s a 511% increase in value in only 10 years. While 9 other Wagner cards have reportedly sold for over $1M since 2000, many of the sales were private, with the final purchase price unable to be confirmed.
Death, taxes, and Honus Wagner cards skyrocketing in value seem to be the only constants in life.