Honus Wagner Baseball Card
Once the most famous and most expensive baseball card
The most famous, and one of the most expensive sporting collector card for the grade, is the Honus Wagner card from the 1909 American Tobacco Company set.
In 2021, a T206 Honus Wagner baseball card sold for $6.606 million, beating the previous record of a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card that sold for $5.2 million earlier that year.
The American Tobacco Company decided to introduce baseball advertising cards into their tobacco products with the issue of the T206 White Border Set in 1909. The cards were included in packs of cigarettes and produced over a three-year period until the ATC was dissolved.
The Honus Wagner card is considered the Holy Grail of baseball card collecting. It is conservatively estimated that around 50 of the cards exist, while more generous guesses edge toward 75 to 100.
Honus Wagner played for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The low number of examples in existence of the Honus Wagner card is attributed to the player's objection to being used to promote tobacco. Wagner forced the cigarette companies to stop production of a card with his image on it, which was a major coup for an athlete in that era.
Have a look in your attic, maybe you have one stored away.
Related Pages
- Mickey Mantle Card — the most expensive baseball card
- More about sporting collector cards
- Cards for sale in the Online Memorabilia Store.
- Also books about card collecting.
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