Honus Wagner

Topps in the Field: The Rare 1910 Hermes Ice Cream Honus Wagner Pin

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Topps Magazine had a feature called Topps In The Field dedicated to news from around the collecting world; in the summer of 92, they included this piece about collectible pins, specifically the Hermes Ice Cream Honus Wagner from the Copeland Collection!

I’ve only started learning about sports pins, so I’m not an expert. Luckily, I do have Sotheby’s Copeland Catalog Topps was referring to. Here’s a scan of the pin from the catalog.

And here’s how Sotheby’s described the Hermes Ice Cream Pin lot that included the Wagner:

Hermes Ice Cream Pins, 1910, lot of 4 different pins, set features the 1909 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates, black and white portraits, yellow border with a blue flag “Pittsburgh” and yellow skull and cross bones at bottom, Hermes logo across the top, players not identified, unnumbered, made by Whitehead and Hoag, the lot includes Leach and Abstein (both only good condition due to excessive surface wear), Clarke-Manager and Hall of Famer (near mint) and Honus Wagner (minor edge stains near the word cream on the right—also minor surface scratches) still a very significant pin and at least excellent condition. 1¼ in. diameter (4) Hermes Ice Cream pins are very rare. Honus Wagner is one of the finest early pins and is highly coveted by collectors.

The expected sales price in the catalog was $2,000-$2,500; Topps wrote that it sold for $2,975.

Regarding the Wagner pin specifically, PSA has only encapsulated two examples and graded one a seven and the other a three. And neither looks like the Copeland pin to me.

Here’s some of the sale’s history: Heritage sold the seven for $6,120 in December 2019. REA then resold it for $9k in the Summer of 2021. REA sold the three for $2,160 in the Spring of 2019 before reselling it in the Fall of 2024 for $3,840.

Happy collecting!

A Look Back At Another T206 Honus Wagner Sale

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It’s time to look at the history of another T206 Honus Wagner—this time with the PSA 1 example sold in Mastro’s 1999 auction.

While raw, The T206Resource labeled this Wanger as 31a in their gallery.

Then, after being consigned to Mastro for their November 1999 Millennium Auction, it was graded and given the notation 31b by the T206 Resource. The T206 Resource said it sold for $58,513, which is partially true, as lot 869, with the 15% buyer’s premium, the final price, per my records, was $67,290. I believe it remains in the same slab to this day.

Two other incredible cards accompanied Wagner on Page 207 of the catalog: the Plank sold for $13,126, and the Magie sold for $9,492.

By the way, The T206 Resource calls this The Long Island Wagner on their Sales History page. Is that accurate? Also, if anyone has any more information about the history of this T206 Wagner example, please reach out. Happy collecting!

The Top 25 Most Expensive Baseball Cards In 1993

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“For those with cash, here are the top 25 most expensive baseball cards,”…as reported in the October 1993 issue of Sports Cards Magazine.

What really stands out is that there wasn’t a single contemporary or modern card on the list (“Sorry, there are no Frank Thomas or Ken Griffey rookie cards on this list”). However, the author also pointed out there wasn’t even a Ted Williams or a Joe DiMaggio (despite their popularity in the hobby at the time). The “youngest” card was a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle (though only 41 years old at the time), which is like including a card from 1983 on a list today.

The PSA 1.5 1909-11 T206 Sweet Caporal Honus Wagner’s History

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I ran across this raw T206 Honus Wagner in Christie’s October 1992 Sports Memorabilia catalog.

I’ve been enjoying tracing T206 Wagner’s sales history lately (number 28 and the Frank Nagy Wagner). Thanks to the Wagner Sales History page and Wagner Gallery on T206Resrouce.com, it’s been made a lot easier. They label this particular example as number 45.

Like I said, Christie’s offered this one raw back in 1992. They provided the following description:

Front depicts Wagner in a color lithograph against a warm orange background with white border, the bottom stating “WAGNER, PITTSBURGH.” The reverse reads “SWEET CAPORAL CIGARETTES, THE STANDARD FOR YEARS” trimmed in red-lined border-2 5/8 x 1 7/16 in.-good to very good.

The T206 Wagner card is the most sought after and avidly pursued collectible card in the hobby today. It has been widely reported that Honus Wagner was vehemently against smoking and therefore requested the withdrawal of his card.However, according to his granddaughter, Ms. Leslie Blair, Wagner objected to the fact that children would have to purchase cigarettes in order to obtain the card; actually, Wanger himself chewed tobacco. To date, fewer than 40 T206 Wagner cards are known to exist.

The expected sales price was $100,000-125,000, but I have yet to confirm what it actually sold for.

The next public sale I have data for is when Heritage Auctions sold the card, now graded Fr 1.5 by PSA, for $2.28M in May 2021. Unfortunately, they didn’t include any information about this Wagner’s provenance.

Goldin then re-sold the card a little over a year later, in October 2022, for $3.72M (a nice 17 month ~$1.5M flip).

Please let me know if you have any more info about Wagner number 45.

A PSA 2 Graded T206 Wagner’s History

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I’ve highlighted the history of a few T206 Wagners on the blog. Here’s another, graded 2 by PSA, with an interesting history from raw to Mastro to Memory Lane.

The picture above is from Mastro’s September 2000 catalog; the card sold for $74,918. Here’s the card and full description.

Note the reference to the PSA 8 Wanger I highlighted in a post called Memorabilia Madness.

The T206Resource, which numbers this particular Wagner card as number 28, includes this photo of it in raw form (though it could be a cropped scan of the graded card), so it was likely graded around the time of the Mastro auction.

Update from the original post (based on my note in the comments) later in the day on July 19, 2024: The PSA Flip type (design) with the Collectors Universe hologram on the back didn’t come out until around 1999/2000, no more than a year before the Mastro Auction.

This Wagner was then consigned through Memory Lane, who tried to sell it for $775k via an eBay Buy-it-Now listing in January 2012 before selling it in May 2012 for $654,500 and again in May 2017 for $600,000.

PS, the other T206 Wagner that has been highlighted on the blog is Frank Nagy’s (Wagner 12 on the T206Resource).

If anyone has any more pre-graded historical information about Wagner 28, please let me know.

The Time MastroNet Brought Nine 1909 T206 Honus Wagner Cards Together at the National Sports Collectors Convention

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The hobby changes quickly, but the National Sports Collectors Convention and the popularity of the 1909 T206 Honus Wagner card are two steadfast consistencies. And in 2004, something amazing happened involving them both.

At the 2004 National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, which ran from July 22 to 25, MastroNet Auctions brought together nine 1909 T206 Honus Wagner cards for an incredible display and promotion. Seeing just one or two on any show floor is a big deal today!

The Wagner Reunion

I learned about this incredible reunion from the first edition of Old Cardboard Magazine.

Old Cardboard Magazine Issue #1

In their synopsis of the show, Old Cardboard wrote that the cards came from various collections and were brought together by MastroNet specifically to display at the National.

In researching the Wagner Reunion, one promotion leading up to the show said 12 of the approximately 50 known Wagners would be there; presumably, some collectors decided not to participate. 

Mastro gave out an awesome “The Wagner Reunion” poster at the show. The T206 Museum shared this example. If you have one for sale, please get in touch with me.

The Wagner Reunion Poster

At the time, the nine Wagners that MastroNet brought together were graded SGC Authentic, GAI 1.5, PSA 1, PSA 2, PSA 3, PSA 5, PSA 1, PSA 1, and PSA Authentic (trimmed).

What’s more, I’ve read that PSA had the ‘PSA 8’ T206 Wagner displayed at the 2004 show, too. So all together, 10 of the ~47ish known T206 Wagners were in a single room, with a value well over $20M today.

It would be cool if a major auction house would do something similar, like trying to bring together the most extensive collection of 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle or 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth cards. Until then, we can look back at the T206 Wagner Reunion as a hobby event that likely won’t be duplicated again; happy collecting!

Memorabilia Madness – Some Background On The PSA 8 T206 Honus Wagner

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I ran across this tidbit about the “PSA-8” graded McNall/Gretzky T-206 Honus Wagner in Topps Magazine’s 6th Edition (Spring 1991). Madness indeed!

The article explains that the Piedmont-backed T206 Honus Wagner achieved the highest price ever (at the time) for a single baseball card, $410k (plus $41k auction fee) during Sotheby’s auction of The Copeland Collection of Important Baseball Cards and Sports Memorabilia in March 1991.

The card’s history is quite infamous, but I have nothing unique to add to that part of the story; check out Wikipedia or the net54 message boards for more info. However, I’m not sure many people today have seen the auction description, including a photo of the back of the raw, pre-graded card.