Another Chance to Own a T206 Honus Wagner (CLCT, EBAY)

In recent weeks 24/7 Wall St. noted how January had a very strange coincidence taking place in the alternative investing world of high-end sports memorabilia… The most prized baseball card collectible of them all, the famed T206 Honus Wagner, was not just for sale.  There were two of these extremely rare 100-year old cards for sale within the same month.  There may only be just over 50 samples of this prized card in existence and these come up for sale very infrequently.

One T206 Wagner is now off the market but should be back on the market soon.  The one which sold in early January was professionally graded by Collectors Universe Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT) as “PSA 4” (scale of 1 to 10) and the card sold for an undisclosed sum.  Doug Allen of Legendary Auctions, which helped facilitate that sale, did confirm to us in a phone interview that the sale price was north of $1.5 million.

And about “the other Wagner card” mentioned?  There was one T206 Honus Wagner which was pulled from the market and it will be back on the market soon. This sample has been graded by Collectors Universe as a “PSA 2” and it was originally listed as a “Buy It Now” offering under the eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) platform for a whopping $775,000.00.  This Wagner sample was on consignment through Memory Lane Inc.  The card has been removed from eBay.

We inquired this week to see if that “PSA 2” sample sold or if it was being pulled from the market.  Memory Lane responded to our inquiry that the prized card was removed from eBay so that it could be listed in the Memory Lane catalog coming out in the next couple of weeks.  The listing was said to be coming at a price of $750,000.00 in the catalog.

Whether that existing sale price is attractive depends upon the buyer.  There is one thing that is true for sure… If you ever get to go back in time to the 1980s to buy shares of Microsoft or Apple, you might want to find out how to buy a T206 Honus Wagner card while you are at it.  The returns might be even better for the Honus Wagner if you look at this photocopy below from the third printing of The Sports Americana’s Baseball Card Price Guide printed in 1981. 

JON C. OGG