Posted 11 years ago
rniederman
(346 items)
As mentioned in a previous CW post, in early August (2013) my son and I attended the National Sports Card Convention in Chicago. On the last day, I saw what is considered the holy grail of baseball cards to the collecting cognoscenti - an original T206 of Honus Wagner.
While baseball might not be the 'national pastime' these days, baseball cards are still the rage and, as you can see, there are some well heeled collectors who can afford this sort of thing. Ironically, this isn't even the highest valued Wagner card.
Anyhow, it's the first time I've seen one in real life and it's actually kind of cool. Hmmm ... I seemed to have left my cash in my other pants. :)
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Collecting gets us all in different ways and from different angles!
stunning!!!!!!
Careful, got to be veddy careful !! (:-D)
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WOW, I'm very curious about the history on why it's so valuable.. The crossroads year after year that eventually landed it on top. On top of a huge empire of heroes and winners... If you know; share it. I'm deferentially curious.
It's like my last post about the STL Browns. Their American League Champion Pennant of 1944 is one at the top in value and they never even got to the series. No one bought it in St. Louis. The Cardinals won the heart of the entire city by then..
Thanks for posting that card, I'm sure it's in the hands of someone who's too rich to understand a true respect for items of that nature.
Peace!!
This is why baseball is so cool ... it has such a colorful history and Wagner was one of the early stars of the game. In summary (copied from Wikipedia): "According to an October 12, 1912 issue of The Sporting News, Wagner did not give his consent to appear on the baseball card. In response to the authorization request letter sent by John Gruber, a Pittsburgh sportswriter hired by the ATC to seek Wagner's permission, Wagner wrote that he "did not care to have his picture in a package of cigarettes."" Only 57 - 200 Wagner cards were produced. Only a handful exist today. So it's a combination of things ... star player, rare card (T206 series), and great story. Thanks!
It's funny, I knew that he was the most valuable but for some reason never knew why... I'm supprised I didn't ever check it out. I think it's becase I really never collected cards... anyway thank you for the info.. I made a comment on Seans page about the Twins.. I've always respected them since 1987.. Great Series. Home Team rides the power of the fans....
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I saw a Hotus Wagner T206 at the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas, Nevada back in 1994. It was displayed along with several other scarce antique baseball cards in an antique style wooden shadow box with chicken wire screen. It wasn't noticeable amongst the large collection of rock & roll memorabilia unless you knew that they were there. It came up missing, someone pulled back the chicken wire and took the Wagner along with a few others. They checked the surveillance cameras without success, because they had no idea how long it had been missing. Not to mention the place was packed with people night & day.
**Honus
Great shot!! I am an artist who paints his own handmade baseball cards. It all started with this famous card! I was looking to make my own profile picture for various website uses and thought it would be fun to make my own Honus Wagner card but with my face instead of his. It came out great and was the start of my newfound hobby of making my own sports cards. Love seeing this card whenever and wherever I see it. Thanks for sharing!
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