Honus Wagner Card Sells for $2.1 Million

My family and I are huge baseball card collectors. Growing up in Campbellton, New Brunswick, Canada I was raised loving the Montreal Expos and the Toronto Blue Jays and tried to get any possible card I could featuring either of my two favorite teams. I remember taking trips to Maine, a three-to-four hour drive from my hometown, and coming home with 100s of packages of cereal boxes, loafs of bread or cheese slices with the hope of getting cards of my teams in the speciality marked packages. The true value was the joy that the cards brought; not their worth.

But what would I do if I had a card that sold for over two million dollars?

Yesterday, April 5, 2013, this occurred. A Honus Wagner 1909 T206 trading card sold for $2.1 million, setting a record for any baseball card sold in auction. The previous record was held in 2008 when another version of the same card sold for $1.62 million.

The Wagner card was highly appraised due to its excellent condition, (graded a perfect 5-out-of-5) and due to its age. It is part of the T206 series released over a century ago, in 1909, by the American Tobacco Co. for distribution in cigarette packs. The Wagner card was also more valuable as, according to legend, very few copies exists due to it being pulled from production as Wagner objected having his image used for promoting tobacco product.

Wagner spent 21 seasons in the Majors, starting his career with the Louisville Colonels while spending the majority of his time with the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning eight National League batting titles and maintaining a .328 average with 723 stolen bases in his career. He was one of the first five players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.

Recognizing the value of the card, it makes me wonder if I should have any of my cards appraised! What is the most valuable card you own? Comment in the section below.