Why rare auction of legendary T206 Honus Wagner card is attracting multi-million dollar bids

New York Times

29-05-2025

An ultra-rare T206 Honus Wagner card is now on sale at auction, marking a milestone event for the sports card hobby. It's also an occasion circled by the very wealthy who want bragging rights and a small piece of 116-year-old art that's repeatedly proven to be one of the world's most lucrative investments.
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Bidding for the 'Connecticut Wagner,' which got its name after being brough to a Connecticut card show in 1985, opened on Wednesday at $2 million in Goldin's Spring Vintage Auction and rose above $3.1 million within the first hour. But Ken Goldin, founder of the auction house, would not be surprised if the winning bid doubled that amount — even though it is graded in 'poor' condition by PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator), as a '1' on a scale of 1-10.
'North of $6 million would be great for the hobby,' Goldin said. 'Somewhere in mid-seven figures. I view this card as an above-average '1' for the color and the fact that the face is really undisturbed where a lot are very disturbed. And the back is very clean.' Goldin said most 1s have significant paper loss on the back.
The Wagner card was originally released by the American Tobacco Company in 1909, part of a set that was included with cigarettes. There are only 36 graded by leading trading card grader PSA and there are another 17 graded by SGC, according to Card Ladder, which tracks card sales across multiple marketplaces. Overall Goldin says the total population of all T206 Wagner cards is believed to be no more than 60. It's such an exclusive club that owners of the card have an exclusive club that meets annually.
Last year was the first year in at least the last 30 where no new members joined the club, with no T206 Wagners changing hands. So demand for this offering is expected to be high.
'It has such cultural significance,' Goldin said. 'So many people who don't own anything else in sports would love to own a T206 Wagner for bragging rights.'
And also for financial gain.
'I looked at every type of transaction I could think of in gold, precious metals, art, stocks,' Goldin continued. 'The only example I can find where the exact same item (meaning the same Wagner card) sold for more every time is a T206 Wagner, and it's done that in every grade.'
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According to the auction house, the Wagner card in this grade has increased in value by 1,012 percent between 2010 and 2022 (the last two sales). That's between two and three times more than the growth in that period of the major U.S. stock indexes.
Wagner is so famous for the scarcity of his card that his excellence as a baseball player is often given short shrift. The hall-of-fame shortstop overcame an unusual body type (barrel chest and bowed legs) to become baseball's greatest pure athlete over his 21-year career between 1897 and 1917, mostly with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He stole 723 bases in his career, leading the National League five times. Wagner led the NL in Wins Above Replacement 11 times, won eight batting crowns and amassed the eighth-most hits in history (3,420).
The T206 set gets its name, which denotes it is tobacco card set No. 206, from Jefferson Burdick's 1939 book 'The American Card Catalog.' It has 523 or 524 subjects (a topic of some controversy, though Goldin says the number is 523). Legend has it that Wagner's card was pulled from distribution because he hated smoking. But according to the Smithsonian, it's far more likely Wagner just didn't want anyone profiting from his likeness.
Goldin, dubbed 'The King of Collectibles' by Netflix in its reality series on his buying and selling operation, is an avid collector himself. But he said the Wagner card is now priced beyond him, even though he owns the rest of the T206 set.
'Like (many), I have waited to find one under a certain price and it just never happens. I wouldn't be surprised to see a graded Wagner of a '1' sell for $10 million soon. And the best of them could sell for $50 million.'
The 'best' is in the collection of Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick. In 2007, he paid $2.8 million for a T206 Wagner graded an '8' (near mint to mint) by PSA in the early 1990s — the first card the company ever graded. Though Kendrick said he and others widely suspected the card was altered (trimmed to make it appear in better condition), he bought it anyway. In 2013, the Department of Justice extracted a confession from former sports memorabilia auction house owner Bill Mastro in a plea agreement in which he stated that he trimmed that Wagner card with a paper slicer.
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PSA offered to buy the Wagner card back from Kendrick for what he paid to honor their guarantee. In a recent interview with Sports Card Investor, Kendrick said he declined because he bought it 'with reasonable knowledge and a cachet of wrongdoing. I figured that being part of a crime would make it more valuable.' Kendrick compares it to John Dillinger's gun, which is just a gun but has immensely more value due to its infamous role in a crime. He added that his instincts have clearly proven to be right. He also said the card deserves its grade. In 2021, Kendrick became an investor in PSA's parent company, Collectors Universe.
The next highest graded T206 Wagner is one in 'excellent' condition (a '5' on the 10-point scale). Goldin said just 26 are graded higher than the PSA 1 he's auctioning.
In April, an 'altered/restored' Wagner fetched $1.98 million. Goldin was impressed by that sale because he said that '95 percent (of buyers) would never have considered the altered Wagner. You had an artist recreate part of it. Let's say you have a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle with the top third torn off and send it out to an art restorer and get it rebuilt. To me it's not the same card.'
While the Connecticut Wagner may technically be graded as poor, it's in its natural state and considered more a work of art and a cultural touchstone than a mere piece of cardboard.
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