Honus Wagner Super Rare Baseball Card Sold For Over A $1 Million

The incredibly rare Honus Wagner baseball card was auctioned off for millions of dollars on Sunday, according to Bleacher Report.

The Honus Wagner baseball card, which sold for an unbelievable $1.32 million, is one of only about 200 T206 cards that were produced from 1909 to 1911, CNBC reported.

The main reason for the rarity of the baseball cards stems from Honus Wagner’s negative feelings toward the sale of the card that bore his likeness and which were sold in packs of cigarettes. Wagner was against the idea of his baseball card being sold with cigarettes because it sent a bad message to his child-fan base. Wagner quickly had the company selling the cards to stop producing them.

Darren Rovell, of ESPN.com said about the history of the Houns Wagner baseball card,

“Legend has it that fewer than 200 cards of the Hall of Fame shortstop were produced because Wagner was not happy with the card’s producer the American Tobacco Company and the smoking message it sent to children. Wagner, however, smoked and endorsed cigars, leading some to believe he was merely upset with not being paid for his image.”

The winning bid was $1.1 million after 42 bids. A 20 percent buyer’s premium raised the sale price to $1.32 million.

The company that organized the auction, Robert Edwards Auctions, said about sale of the Honus Wagner baseball card:

“This is a phenomenal-looking card in all respects that elicits a positive and awed response from everyone who sees it… The colors are noticeably brighter, fresher and bolder than virtually every other T206 Wagner in existence. The image is perfect and it shows just enough honest wear to give it character but not serve as a distraction in any way.”

Robert Edwards Auctions said about the quality of the Honus Wagner baseball card:

“This is a particularly strong T206 Wagner that far exceeds that 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. The offered card is one of only four examples graded at this level by PSA with three additional VG examples graded by SGC.”

Honus Wagner is regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Wagner was a member of the very first Hall of Fame of Baseball induction class in 1936 along with the likes of Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth.

Wagner played 21 seasons, 18 of which he played with the Pittsburgh Pirates, playing from 1897 to 1917 during the dead-ball era.

Though $1.32 million is a huge amount of money for any baseball card, it is still not the highest sum spent on a T206 Honus Wagner baseball card. The 1909 T206 Wagner card became the most valuable baseball card ever, The Inquisitr reported. In 2007, a near mint condition T206 Wagner baseball card sold for $2.8 million. It was the highest sum for any baseball card ever sold.

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