There's been yet another big purchase in the world of rare sports cards. We've seen record braking auction sales like Patrick Mahomes rookie card being sold for $4.3 million and one of Wayne Gretzky being bought for $3.7 million.
But this Honus Wagner baseball card broke the record for the most expensive of all time at a whopping $6.6 million!
According to ESPN, the T206 Honus Wagner card was well guarder by "a fully armed, off-duty police officer," when it was put on display at Chicago's National Sports Collectors Convention. The extra precautions were due to the fact that the highly sought after card is only one of sixty said to be in existence.
The ground breaking sale took place at the Robert Edwards Auction in Chester, NJ on Monday. The purchase included a 20% buyer's premium for the coveted piece of sport's history.
The T206 cards were only sold between the 1909 and 1911. They came along with a packs of American Tobacco Co. cigarettes, making them an extremely rare commodity. The card that was sold at Robert Edwards has had a long auction history before it's record smashing sale this week. It's actually the first Wagner card to ever be sold publicly. The card made it's auction debut back in 1973 when Fred McKie bought it at a Detroit auction for $1,100. He then sold the card for double the cost.
"This is the Mona Lisa of baseball cards," the auction house's president Brian Dwyer expresses tells ESPN, "and it’s a statement piece of epic proportions. This Wagner stands out because of its condition. This card is one of the best examples out there, and it's certainly one of the best examples available."
In 2012, the Wagner was sold for $2m before another card of the same addition made a record breaking sale in 2016 at $3.6 million as the most expensive card at the time. A $3.9 million Mike Trout card beat the title last year just to be toppled by this year's $5.2 million purchase of a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle and LeBron James 2003-04 Rookie Patch card.
"The rarity and the legend of the T206 Honus Wagner, coupled with the quality of this example, excited bidders who recognized it may be a very long time before an opportunity like this came around again," Robert Edward auctions said in a statement.
Sources: ESPN, Robb Report, CNN
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