The T206 Honus Wagner card from 1909 is perhaps the one baseball card that every sports collector knows about. That’s also true even for those who are not into sports collectibles. The mystery behind the card’s scarcity is still debated, but what is not debated is that Honus Wagner sells for over $1 million even in poor condition. And now there are two examples of the 50 (or so) that are up for grabs.
The current auction is from Robert Edwards Auctions, and with 4 days to go it had received 19 bids with a current bid price of $4.205 million. The SGC graded “3” (of 10) is one of the better looking T206 Wagner cards that has sold within the last decade. It may break a record for all card sales, and it has already passed the prior Wagner record.
The second Honus Wagner coming up for auction is the card that we would refer to as a “Restored Wagner” example. SCP Auctions has received the authentic card graded “Authentic” by PSA and it is coming to auction in the Fall of 2021. The press release indicated that the card is expected to have a multi-million price tag when it sells. SCP last sold a PSA 2 graded T206 Honus Wagner for $1.2 million, but that was in May 2019 when prices were lower.
Another restored Honus Wagner card brought $2.5 million earlier in 2021. That card was also graded SGC “Authentic” rather than being given a number grade.
As for the debate about the reason Honus Wagner pulled his cards from The American Tobacco Company (not wanting kids to use tobacco or a contract dispute), Collectors Dashboard believes this partially both reasons but more of a contract dispute than anything.
There is also a debate about just how many T206 Honus Wagner cards really exist. Most references in the sports collectibles site use the number of “about 60” examples. Robert Edwards Auctions has noted that there are 50 examples between the combined PSA and SGC population reports, but the auctioneer also noted this may be a bit high because several of those cards have been crossed between PSA and SGC over the years.
Collectors Dashboard evaluates collectibles as an alternative asset class. This means collectibles are attracting the same capital that could have been invested into stocks or bonds. A T206 Honus Wagner card sells for many times what a traditional stock or bond investment by individuals. The T206 Wagner will be a war between collectors and investors. Collectors will have a passion to own a T206 Wagner. The investors will only be seeking to make a profit from reselling the card at a later date.
