T206
The trading card set known as the T206 was produced from 1909 to 1911. The cards were obtained from packets of cigarettes and tobacco from 16 different brands of the American Tobacco Company . Due to the rarity and quality of the color lithographs , the cards are among the rarest and most expensive trading cards and a milestone in the history of collecting baseball cards.
history
The name T206 refers to the catalog name Jefferson Burdick gave in his book The American Card Catalog . The set is also known informally as the White Border , as the lithographs on each card are surrounded by the distinctive white borders.
The T206 set consists of 524 cards. Over 100 of these cards show minor league players. Some players also have multiple cards in different poses, in different uniforms, or even with different teams (since the set was issued over a three-year period). The cards measure 3.7 cm by 6.7 cm, which is considered by many collectors to be the standard size for tobacco cards.
The set is the most popular and most collected set of the tobacco / pre-war era. The historical significance of the set and the large number of variations make it very attractive for collectors. Additionally, the set features many Baseball Hall of Fame members, including Ty Cobb (who is depicted on 4 different cards), Walter Johnson , Cy Young and Christy Mathewson . The value of the cards has resulted in a large number of forgeries over the years.
The book The T206 Collection: The Players & Their Stories by Tom and Ellen Zappala and Peter Randall Publishers sheds light on the personal and professional lives of the players in the collection and discusses the values of the cards and the mystique behind the collection.
The Honus Wagner trading card
The T206 Wagner is the most valuable baseball card in existence, and even damaged copies are valued at $ 100,000 or more. This is in part due to Wagner's place in the Hall of Fame and his status as one of the immortals of baseball. More importantly, it is one of the rarest cards from the most prominent of all vintage card sets.
rarity
While the American Tobacco Trust distributed "tens or hundreds of thousands" of T206 cards to each player for three years and sixteen cigarette brands, it is estimated that only between 50 and 200 Wagner cards were ever distributed to the public. Of these few cards, only a few have survived to this day. There are several theories as to why the card is so rare. One theory is that the printing plate used to make Wagner's map broke early in the production process, but Wagner was a big star back then and new plates would almost certainly have been made. Another theory is that there was a copyright battle between the American Tobacco Company and the artist who created the Wagner lithograph.
The most popular theory is that the card was taken out of production because Wagner himself objected to the card's production, but his motivation is unclear. Reports from the time indicated that Wagner did not want to identify with cigarettes, possibly because he did not want to encourage children to smoke. However, some collectors and historians have indicated that Wagner had his picture appearing on cigar boxes and other tobacco-related products before 1909 and may have objected to the card simply because he wanted higher financial compensation for the use of his picture.
value
A high-quality example of the Wagner card was auctioned on eBay for $ 1.265 million in 2000 . In February 2007, the same card sold for a record $ 2.35 million. In September 2007, the Wagner card changed hands again, this time for 2.8 million US dollars.
In November 2010, a group of nuns from Baltimore sold a Wagner card for $ 262,000 to Doug Walton, a sports card dealer.
In April 2013, a T206 "Jumbo" Wagner, so named because the card was slightly larger than most other known examples, sold for $ 2.1 million. In October 2016, the card sold for $ 3.12 million.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ eBay invokes new rules for baseball card auction. Retrieved October 9, 2019 .
- ↑ The Frank Nagy T206 Honus Wagner GAI 3.5 sold for $ 456,057. In: T206Museum.com. Retrieved October 9, 2019 .
- ^ Wagner a Wonder. Retrieved October 9, 2019 .
- ↑ Honus Wagner baseball card sells for record $ 2.3 million. In: USATODAY.com. Retrieved October 9, 2019 .
- ↑ T206 Wagner card sets $ 2.1M auction mark. April 6, 2013, accessed October 9, 2019 .
- ↑ David Seideman: In 2016 The Top 10 Most Valuable Sports Cards And Memorabilia Commanded A Record $ 12 Million +. Retrieved October 9, 2019 .