The ‘Holy Grail’ of baseball cards is up for auction

One of history’s most famous baseball cards is up for auction, and bidding has already surpassed $1 million with days left to go. Its official name of the 1909-11 T206 White Border Sweet Caporal 150/25 Honus Wagner PSA Authentic (Restored) is quite the mouthful, but Heritage Auction’s nickname for the memorabilia is much easier to remember. Simply put, the incredibly rare piece of history is the “Holy Grail” of baseball cards.

“The T206 Wagner is the foundational trophy of baseball card collecting,” Heritage’s director of sports auctions Chris Ivy said earlier this month.

Honus Wagner remains one of the sport’s most revered players even nearly 130 years after first stepping onto a professional field. The son of a German immigrant coal miner, the “Flying Dutchmen” is best known for his tenure as a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1900 through 1917. Wagner ultimately became an eight-time batting champion and was one of the original inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, in 1937.

However, Wagner reportedly didn’t accept every accolade.Legend has it that he demanded Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company stop printing collectible cards featuring his portrait after learning they were using them to promote Sweet Caporal cigarettes. The extremely limited run of cards translated to an unprecedented collectibility that lingers to this day.

The T206 Wagner is only the sixth of its kind ever sold by Heritage Auctions, and its current bid stands at $1,025,000. The bidding will run until October 25, and the sellers anticipate the card will auction for at least $3,000,000. And there is precedent to back up the high price tag. Earlier this year, a similar 1909-11 T206 Piedmont Honus Wagner SGC Authentic sold for over $5.8 million.