An SGC 40 (VG) T206 Honus Wagner card, the ‘holy grail’ of the sports card hobby, sold for $700,000 through Philip Weiss Auctions on Saturday. With an 13% buyer’s premium attached, the final realized price was $791,000. The sale was conducted live, with bids taken by phone, fax, and eBay Live.
“The only thing keeping the card from realizing a lot more money was its condition, which was SGC graded 3,” said Philip Weiss of Philip Weiss Auctions. “Still, the pre-sale estimate was $500,000-$800,000, and it ended up selling toward the high end of that range. What added to its allure was the fact that it was fresh to the market, consigned by the original owner’s family and never before offered.”
The emergence of the example offered by Weiss is the latest in a string of “Holy Grail” Wagner cards offered for sale in the last year, with a PSA 5 sold by Mastro Auctions this summer for $1.62 million.
The auction also featured a collection of original-owner T205 and T206 cards from the same era. The star lot was a highly prized Ray Demmitt error card, SGC graded 4; it hammered for $7,625. Another coveted sports collectible to cross the block was a Babe Ruth signed baseball, PSA graded 9 out of 10 and obtained by the chairman of the American Legion league at Shibe Park. It made $67,800.
| PSA 1 PR-FR | $399,500 | Robert Edward Auctions/May 2009 |
| SGC 40 VG | $791,000 | Weiss Auctions/November 2008 |
| PSA 5 EX | $1.62 million | Mastro Auctions/August 2008 |
| BVG 1 PR-FR | $371,250 | Robert Edward Auctions/ April 2008 |
| SGC 10 PR-FR | $227,050 | Heritage Auctions/April 2008 |
| PSA 8 NM/M | $2.8 million | Private Sale/Sept. 2007 |
| PSA 8 NM/MT | $2.35 million | Private Sale/February 2007 |
| GAI 3.5 VG | $456,057 | Mastro Auctions/December 2005 |
| PSA 2 FR | $294,337 | Memory Lane/December 2006 |
| PSA 2 FR | $236,706 | Mastro Auctions/April 2005 |
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[…] exist today. That's not far above the general estimate of 75 surviving Wagners. Check out a list of selling prices for Wagner cards and you'll see they are often auction toppers. A Wagner card in low grade usually brings […]