The Honus Wagner T206 - The World's Most Valuable Baseball Card

Honus Wagner was the finest baseball player ofcard occurred at Sotheby's in 1991. The card was
his era. So it was no surprise that the Americanthe finest quality Honus Wagner card in the world
Tobacco Company (ATC) put him in their seriesand was initially estimated at $114,000. But a
of baseball cards. Wagner, on the other hand,bidding war ensued between two collectors (Mike
objected to the use of his image. ThisGidwitz and Mark Friedland) and an anonymous
disagreement led to the his card becoming thephone bidder. After a lengthy auction, the phone
most valuable baseball card in the world.bidder triumphed with a bid of $451,000. The
At the turn of the 20th century the ATC had aphone bidder turned out to be legendary ice
monopoly over America's tobacco industry. This allhockey player Wayne Gretzky and the card then
changed with Theodore Roosevelt's anti-monopolybecame known as the Gretzky T206 Honus
legislation. The ATC found itself competing withWagner Card.
other producers and introduced the T206 seriesIn 1995, after Gretzky's financial backer was
of baseball cards in 1909.investigated for fraud, the card was sold for half
As the biggest star in baseball at the time, thea million dollars to Treat Entertainment and
ATC naturally asked for permission to use hisWal-Mart. They had purchased the card to give a
image. Wagner declined. His refusal is usually putway in a competition to promote their line of
down to him not wanting to encourage children tobaseball cards. The winner, unsurprisingly,
smoke. However, he himself was an enthusiasticimmediately put the card back up for auction at
chewer of tobacco and had promoted tobaccoChristie's. The card was bought for $641,500 by
products earlier in his career. Others suggest thatMichael Gidwitz (one of the bidders in the 1991
Wagner turned down the offer for financialauction). Gidwitz put the card up for auction once
reasons.again in 2000. This time, however, he did not use
Whatever the reason for his refusal, the ATCa major auction house, but eBay. This proved to
were forced to stop production of his card. Nobe a profitable decision as the card sold for $1.265
one knows for sure how many Honus Wagnermillion (almost double what Gidwitz paid for it).
cards were produced before production wasSince then, it has been announced that the card
halted. But the highest estimate is 200. One ofhas been sold twice more in more secretive
these cards in particular became famous.agreements. The last value being $2.8 million.
The first major auction of a T206 Honus Wagner