Bidding for the PSA 3 T206 Honus Wagner card being offered by Robert Edward Auctions opened Thursday and in just seven hours, the card had soared past $1 million including the buyer’s premium.
The opening bid was $100,000.
While it’s impossible to know how high bidding will go, it appears the consignor of the card stands to make a healthy profit, having purchased it at auction in 2008 for $791,000.
The card was unknown to the hobby until it was revealed, along with hundreds of other 1910-era tobacco cards in the basement of a home in Oceanside, New York that year. It had remained in the same family for nearly a century before starring in an estate auction.
The “Oceanside Wagner” is one of the best known examples of the hobby’s most famous card, with strong color, even corner wear and a light crease in the upper right corner.
It is one of only four examples graded ‘3’ by PSA, with three others carrying SGC’s VG rating. Only four examples grade 
higher (all by PSA): one NM-MT 8, one EX 5, one EX 5 (MC), and one VG-EX 4.
Two other premier cards in the auction, a 1910 Old Mill Joe Jackson and a 1916 Sporting News Babe Ruth rookie card, had each topped six figures in early bidding.
They are among more than 1,500 lots up for bid at REA through April 25.
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