When it comes to the most sought after baseball card of them all, most collectors will say it is the T206 Honus Wagner. This card has been the holy grail of collecting for decades, and even a card graded down in the 1/10 category by PSA or SGC that is in poor condition will cost over $1 million. A current T206 Honus Wagner is up for sale via Robert Edwards Auctions and this example graded SGC 3 is about to launch into its own new price record for the grade.
With 18 days left to bid at the time of this publishing, Robert Edwards Auctions has seen 17 bids and the $1 million reserve has now risen to $3,814,780.00. And if you are short of cash that is tied up but have crypto gains, the auction house also noted that it will accept cryptocurrency as payment for this item.
Collectors Dashboard has been tracking the top sales within each category of collectibles. Our aim in this effort here specifically is to track the investors movement versus the pure hobbyists who want to own key collectibles. It is obvious that the investors have become involved.
In line with investing versus collecting or mere hobby, it has become undeniable that collectibles as a whole have matured into an alternative asset class. eBay has referenced this as an investment category, as have the major auction houses referring to sports cards, comic books, stamps, coins and fine art as investments and assets. There are also stock exchange-mimicking sites and apps where buyers can purchase fractional ownership of cards and other collectibles almost the same as buying shares of stock on an exchange.
Prior to this auction, these were the record card sale prices at auction as of June 2, 2021, and these prices are shown to be inclusive of the buyer’s premium:
- T206 Honus Wagner Card PSA 2 for $3.751 million in May 2021 via Goldin Elite Auction
- T206 Honus Wagner Card PSA 3 for $3.70 million in 2020 via Heritage Auctions
- T206 Honus Wagner Card PSA 3 for $3.25 million in 2020 via Mile High Card Company
- T206 Honus Wagner Card PSA EX 5 (MC); the “Jumbo Wagner” for $3.12 million in 2016 via Goldin Auctions
The auction house also noted that this example of the T206 Honus Wagner is one of the highest-grade examples in existence. Their take is that there are roughly fifty graded T206 Honus Wagner cards combined between PSA and SGC, but they also note that the population may be a bit high. The reason — several Wagner cards have been crossed between the two grading companies over time.
This is part of the description from Robert Edwards Auctions that discusses eye appeal and the solid presentation that the card offers for the grade:
Graded VG 3 by SGC. This extremely attractive T206 Honus Wagner possesses virtually every quality highly desired by collectors. It has vibrant colors, a bright orange background, and a crisp, bold portrait. The card is well centered (very slightly to the top), and the corners show even wear, with only a single small crease present on the entire card, placed unobtrusively to the right of the image. The advertisement for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes printed on the reverse is perfectly centered.
This is a particularly strong T206 Wagner that far exceeds the condition and visual appeal usually found with T206 Wagners. This is very easily seen just by looking at the card, but it is further confirmed when one evaluates the known T206 Wagner population as documented by the PSA and SGC population reports.
It goes without saying that the National Sports Collectors Convention starting in Chicago will have yet another great Honus Wagner story to tell. Two interesting pieces are here — this is (so far) no longer the highest auction price for a baseball card, and the T206 Honus Wagner is not even the rarest of the Honus Wagner cards. The latter point is another issue entirely and will be a feature story soon.
This auction is set to end at 9:00 PM Eastern Time on Sunday, August 15, 2021.
