Baseball Card Sets New Record Price at $3.12 Million
- by Michael Stillman
Honus Wagner, the baseball card.
Rising prices in paper ephemera were confirmed once again last month with another new record set for the price of a baseball card. And once again, the honored ballplayer was the man they called "Honus," Johannes Peter "Honus" Wagner. This time the price was $3,120,000. Once again, it was not just any Honus Wagner card, but what is known as a T206 "Jumbo" card issued circa 1909 by Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. Sweet Caporal, on the card's back, claims to be "The Standard For Years." Not, obviously, for cigarettes, but for baseball cards, yes they are.
Honus Wagner was in his seventh season in the major leagues in 1909. Even by then, he was one of the oldest players in baseball. He retired in 1917 at the age of 43. Along the way, Wagner compiled eight batting titles, while also being a consummate slugger, base stealer, and defensive shortstop. It is ironic that Wagner, though being one of the greatest to ever play the game, is better known today for his baseball card than his play. Then again, Wagner himself never made anything like the $3.1 million his card just made. His maximum salary was $10,000.
Only about 200 of these cards were issued by Sweet Caporal. Wagner objected, ordering them to cease and desist. Why he objected is not certain. One explanation is that he was not paid by Sweet Caporal. That would certainly be grounds for an objection, though baseball players were not routinely paid for promoting products in that day. The other possible reason, cited by Wagner's granddaughter, is that Honus did not want to encourage children to smoke. You had to buy cigarettes to get these cards. Wagner was himself a smoker and chewer, but that doesn't mean he would not have objected to promoting tobacco to children. Whatever the reason, printing of the cards was discontinued after a short run. Today, a little over 50 of these cards are known to survive.
However, most are not worth $3.1 million. Along with this being a rare "Jumbo" card (wider margins), it is one of only three Wagner cards with a PSA rating of 5 or greater. Unlike books, with a somewhat vague poor/fair/good/very good/fine scale, baseball cards are rated 1-10. There is one other Wagner card rated 5 and another rated 8. The one rated 8, which might bring more than $3.1 million at auction today, is known as the "Gretzky" card because it was once owned by hockey player Wayne Gretzy. While the Gretzky card is better, it is believed a later owner trimmed the edges to remove some rubbing or curling that would have lowered the rating. Gretzky bought the card in 1991 for $451,000 and sold it in 1995 for $500,000. The Gretzky card was privately sold in 2007 for $2.8 million, previously the highest price paid for a baseball card.
The new record setter, which was sold by sports memorabilia specialist Goldin Auctions, is in the records for at least two previous sales. In 2008, it was sold at auction for $1.62 million. The same card came up again in 2013 and this time was sold for $2.105 million. If nothing else, this recent sale for $3.12 million proves that Honus Wagner and other significant baseball cards make a great investment. Even substantially lesser grades on the Wagner card easily climb well into six figures.
As remarkable as that price is for a baseball card, this one may be even more so. At the same auction, Goldin sold a signed rookie Lebron James basketball card for $318,500. $318,500? This card is barely 13 years old. Lebron is alive and well and can still sign as many more cards as he feels like. Moneyed collectors are evidently alive and well too, and items in the field of collectible works on paper are getting their share of the money, even if sometimes it is non-traditional forms of paper.
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800