The holy grail of baseball cards set another record this week.
A T206 Honus Wagner card with a Sweet Caporal back, graded as Authentic by PSA, fetched nearly $2 million in Mile High Card Company’s September 2023 Auction. The final gaveled price, after 52 bids were submitted, was $1,968,000 including the buyer’s premium.
It was one of several high-ticket items that sold at the auction, which began on Aug. 23 and ended Thursday, Sept. 7.
The winning bid for the Wagner card tops the previous mark for a card receiving a PSA “Authentic” grade. That was slightly more than $1.5 million for a trimmed copy sold by Robert Edward Auctions in April of last year. The record price for an Authentic grade is held by the SGC graded Wagner card once owned by Joe Garagiola sold through Heritage Auctions in 2021.
The card sold by Mile High is the first Wagner card to reach the market since Goldin Auctions sold a PSA 1.5 specimen for $3.7 million in October 2022. It was the same card that received a winning bid of slightly more than $1.1 million in an October 2021 sale by SCP Auctions. That is quite a jump, considering that as recently as December 2018, Wagner Authentic cards were selling for sell than $500,000.
The card was graded Authentic because of creases that were touched up in the background of the card.
“We’re not surprised at the result, given the magnificent eye appeal of the piece.” Mile High President and CEO Brian Drent said in a statement. “We have the most knowledgeable customer base in the business and they understood what a golden opportunity this was.”
The latest sale marks the continued spike in demand for Wagner T206 cards. Nine of them have sold at auction recently, all for at least $1.1 million. Since 2019, five of those cards were sold by Mile High, including the “All Star Café” PSA 1 card that sold in March 2022.
In October 2021, a T206 with an SCG 3 grade sold for $6.6 million by Robert Edward Auctions.
Five other items in Mile High’s auction had final sales of six figures after the buyer’s premium was added to the gaveled price.
An unopened wax pack of 1948 Leaf baseball, graded PSA 7, fetched $206.017.62 after 41 bids were cast. This set — the first color baseball cards issued after World War II — featured cards of Stan Musial, Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Phil Rizzuto, Ralph Kiner, Larry Doby and Hal Newhouser.
The auction was not limited to cards, as a photo-matched 1970-71 game-used road jersey of Boston Bruins great Bobby Orr sold for $167,491.56.
While the Wagner card remains the hobby’s holy grail, the 1952 Topps card of Mickey Mantle is not far behind. A card graded 5.5 by SCG brought in $131,231.16 in the Mile High auction.
One of the iconic sets from the Great Depression Era — the 1933 Goudey set — also brought in six figures. The 239-card set, completely graded by PSA and SCG, sold for $112,255.95. The first baseball card set produced by Goudey includes four of Babe Ruth. Card No. 106 — of Napoleon Lajoie — was issued with a 1934 card front and a ’33 card back — was not included in the set, due to its incredibly rare status.
Another unopened pack rounds out the items that garnered six figures in final bidding. A 1952 Topps baseball pack sold for a nickel that year, but this year’s Mile High auction saw an unopened version sell for $104,045.70. The pack’s PSA 7 grade makes it one of the highest-graded unopened packs of the legendary set.
It was from the first series and could have an elusive high grade copy of Andy Pafko (card no. 1) or Hall of Famers like Spahn, Rizzuto, Monte Irvin, Duke Snider and Robin Roberts. The possibility of pulling a red back or black back also exists, along with the chance of finding error cards of Johnny Sain or Joe Page — that is, if the winner decides to open the pack.
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