PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WKBN)- A baseball card of a Pittsburgh Pirates legend was just purchased for millions.
According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the 1909-1911 T206 card of Honus Wagner sold for $7.25 million as a part of Goldin Auctions. Ken Goldin, of Goldin Auctions, oversaw the purchase of what is now the most expensive card ever purchased and says there are less than 50 authenticated T-206 Wagner cards.
USA Today reports that the buyer and seller chose to stay anonymous and that the card is considered to be the rarest baseball card in the world.
Goldin Auctions said that the previous record for the T206 of Wagner was $6.6 million and that the card was sold in August 2021.
According to the National Baseball Hall Of Fame, Wagner spent all of his 21 seasons (1897-1917) with the Pirates, his hometown team. The shortstop won the National League batting title eight times and he won a World Series title with Pittsburgh in 1909.
Wagner was one of the first five players elected to the National Baseball Hall Of Fame in 1936.
Collectors also have their eyes on another ultra-rare baseball card that is up for sale until the auction ends Aug. 27 – a mint condition Mickey Mantle card from 1952.
The owner, Anthony Giordano, is described by the Associated Press as a waste management entrepreneur from New Jersey. Giordano paid $50,000 for the card at a New York City card show in 1991.
As for the card itself, the condition is near-perfect and Heritage Auctions, which is handling the bidding, estimates that it could fetch more than $10 million by the end of the auction.
“The quality of the card is the key,” Derek Grady, executive vice president of sports auctions for Heritage Auctions, told the Associated Press. “Four sharp corners, the gloss and the color jumps off the card.”