There’s a new record price for the hobby’s most recognizable face.
Goldin Auctions says it has facilitated the sale of a T206 Honus Wagner graded SGC 2 (Good) for $7.25 million. That private sale breaks the old record price for not only the Wagner card but for any sports trading card. An SGC Wagner sold last year through Robert Edward Auctions for $6.6 million.
“I’ve been in this business for a very long time and seen a lot of incredible trading cards and pieces of memorabilia, but there is nothing on earth like a T-206 card,” said Goldin Executive Chairman and Founder Ken Goldin. “There’s a reason why no Wagner card has never sold for less than it was previously purchased for – the card is art, it’s history, it’s folklore. The T-206 is one of the reasons I do what I do and why serious collectors around the world love this hobby so much. To be a part of history and facilitate this record-breaking sale is an honor.”
The trading card record isn’t expected to last long. Heritage Auctions is selling a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle graded 9.5 by SGC and that card is expected to eclipse the $10 million mark.
The buyer and seller of the SGC 2 Wagner weren’t identified.
The card had originally been authenticated and graded by PSA and sold for $294,338 through Memory Lane in 2006. The owner then crossed it to SGC in 2007.
“We believe this Wagner, without a doubt, is in the top 10% of its class for eye appeal,” Memory Lane stated at the time.
The latest sale is the latest in a long, unbroken trend of Wagner results in which each successive sale nets the buyer significantly more than they paid.
Goldin will have another Wagner card—an SGC 1.5—up for auction starting in mid-September. The last 1.5 –that one graded by PSA –sold for $2.28 million in May of 2021.
In March of this year, a PSA 1 Wagner netted $3.1 million in a Mile High Card Company auction.
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