A T206 Honus Wagner card sold Saturday night at Mile High Card Company for $1.98 million.
Graded PSA Authentic and designated Restored, the card is one of around 60 examples of the famed T206 Wagner card believed to exist today.
The story of the card, issued in the most famous baseball card set ever produced, known as the T206 set from 1909-11, is as well-known as any in the history of collecting.
Though the exact reasons are not totally agreed upon, the rarity of the card comes due to Wagner’s insistence the American Tobacco Company, which issued the cards in packs of its cigarettes, cease use of his likeness, leaving shockingly few examples of the card in public hands.
In 2024, there were zero public sales of a T206 Wagner card, the first such drought in more than 30 years.
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The last Wagner sale prior to Saturday actually came courtesy of the very same card.
Tracing the history of this Wagner back to its first known public sale in 2003 at Lelands, when it fetched $63,939.06 and was marketed as “Newly Discovered,” its origins come into focus. According to the lot description, the card was owned by a single family since 1910 when it was first issued.
Stored in the owner's wallet from the 1920s to the 1940s, the auction house says it was kept close at hand because the owner “realized the significance of such a rare piece.”
It was then passed down through generations of the family, surviving a burglary of the original consignor’s home in 1980. The family then moved the card into its "private vault.”
Following its 2003 sale, the card appeared again in 2021 at SCP Auctions, selling for $1,102,806. Then it surfaced once more in September 2023 at Mile High, selling for $1,968,000.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.