Newly discovered T206 Honus Wagner card auctioned off at $5M

A recently discovered 1909 Sweet Caporal T206 Honus Wagner card, which was cut from new tobacco packs released at the time and had been kept in the same family for more than a century, has been sold through Goldin Auctions for $5.124 million (including buyer’s premium). This is the third most expensive T206 Wagner after the purchased copy $6.606 million in August 2021 and copy sold privately $7.25 million in August 2022.

This Wagner received a grade of 1 from the Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA); The other two more expensive Wagners were graded by the Sportscard Guaranty Corporation (SGC) and received grades 3 and 2 respectively.

“We are honored that the Shields family chose us to represent this historic card that has been in their family for 116 years,” Goldin CEO and Founder Ken Goldin said in a statement.

It belonged to Wagner Douglas and Dennis Shields, whose grandfather Morton Bernstein, son of the founder of The National Silver Company, collected and preserved trading cards in the early 1900s. After Bernstein purchased the FB Rogers Silver Company in 1955 and expanded into the West, he had his cards framed and decorated his businesses with them; When the National Silver Company closed, the cards were moved to a warehouse and eventually given to Dennis and Douglas.

Goldin announced the card in December, a discovery based on Season 3 of Netflix’s “King of Collectables: The Goldin Touch.”

Goldin continued, “Tonight, Shields shared with me that they are thrilled with the sale – and we hope the new owner will value it as much as they did.” “T206 Honus Wagner remains the Mona Lisa of sports cards.”

The story behind the T206 Wagner Given this, one of the most coveted of sports cards is pittsburgh pirates Shortstop asked the American Tobacco Company to remove it from production in 1909. Theories behind its scarcity include everything from a printing plate accident to Wagner’s (unlikely) alleged disagreement with selling tobacco to children, to Wagner being somewhat of a zero-sum pioneer, and objection to his likeness being used without proper compensation.

This is not the only Wagner who is in the news at the moment. An SGC Authentic (grade below Grade 1) is currently priced at $2.318 million with six days left in the heritage auction.