Rare Honus Wagner Baseball Card Sold Again for $2.8 Million

The highest graded Honus Wagner baseball card from the famous T206 tobacco series has found another new home a little more than six months after selling for a then-record shattering price of $2.35 million.

SCP Auctions of Mission Viejo, CA reports the card was sold to an anonymous private collector for $2.8 million. A southern California businessman had owned the card with SCP as minority owner and caretaker after they purchased it in February of this year.

The Wagner card, part of a series issued with packs of cigarettes between 1909 and 1911, was once owned by Wayne Gretzky and former Los Angeles Kings' owner Bruce McNall. It was also at one point the top prize in a national contest conducted by Wal-Mart.

It was dubbed the "Holy Grail" of baseball cards but its origin is somewhat of a mystery. One of the card's earliest owners maintains it was found at a Florida flea market in the mid-1980s, cut from a production sheet and later trimmed. It was the first baseball card ever graded and authenticated by Professional Sports Authenticators (PSA), which normally will not grade cards it believes to have been altered. The company graded it "Near Mint to Mint" with an 8 on a scale of 10, the highest grade ever attributed to the few examples of the card which exist. The questions surrounding it's condition have obviously not affected the value or interest in the card, which has increased in value with each subsequent sale, based likely on its scarcity and fame.

"The T206 Honus Wagner card is an icon, not only in the field of baseball card collecting, but in the larger field of Americana,” said David Kohler, president and CEO of SCP Auctions. “We are privileged to have been involved in the sale of this card, not once but twice.”

Kohler told SportsCollectorsDaily.com his company didn't expect to sell the card just months after buying it.

"We just received an offer that was hard to turn down. It made sense for the principal owner who had actually expected to keep it for many years."

PSA has authenticated, graded and encapsulated 28 of the known T206 Wagner cards. Of those, only two have earned grades of 4 (VG-EX) or better, three examples earned 3 (VG) status, with the remainder garnering either a 1 or 2 due to substantial wear or significant physical imperfections.

Kohler says it's possible the new owner may be identified later this year or early next year, but for now wishes to remain private.

It is estimated that less than one hundred examples of the T206 Wagner exist. Numerous myths have been perpetuated and debated over the course of the last century, as to the reason for its scarcity. One theory holds that Wagner, a Hall of Famer, insisted that he be paid by the tobacco company for the use of his image causing the production of his card to be halted. Another possibility is that Wagner simply did not want children to be influenced into buying tobacco products just to get a “picture” of him, and thus forced the early withdrawal of his image on this principle.

The card's legend has generated more publicity in history than any other piece of sports memorabilia.

"It's been a great marketing tool for us," Kohler said. "It's brought a lot of notoriety to our company along with the Bonds baseballs and other vintage cards and memorabilia we've sold. It's been fun and handling things like this is why we come to work every day."

Said Dan Imler, managing director of SCP Auctions: “For many collectors, owning any example of a T206 Honus Wagner card is the crowning achievement of baseball card collecting. Approximately 70 collectors in the word are fortunate to own one. This example, graded PSA 8 NM-MT, is universally recognized as the ultimate baseball card treasure. We are proud to have had a hand in placing it in a good new home.”