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A 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card was sold for $1.62 million at a memorabilia auction in Chicago, a sports auction company said Saturday.
The record price for a baseball card is $2.8 million—paid in 2007 for a near-mint condition Wagner card released in 1909 by the American Tobacco Company.
John Rogers, 35, of North Little Rock, Ark., said his winning bid for the T206 Wagner card is the realization of a decades-long dream.
“I call this the holy grail of baseball cards,†Rogers said in a phone interview. “I’ve looked at a number of other specimens, sat in a few other Wagner auctions. But this is the one that makes collecting worth while.â€
Rogers has collected baseball cards since he was 6. When he was in the second grade, he said he cut out a copy of a Wagner card and carried it around in his pocket.
“Since I was 8 years old, I’ve hoped and dreamed that one day I’d be able to get one,†Rogers said.
Bidders at the Friday night auction also spent $42,000 on Ken Griffey, Jr.’s 600th home run ball and $240,000 for a 1938 Lou Gehrig Yankees road jersey, said Doug Allen, Mastro Auctions chief operating officer.
The T206 cards are from a series issued between 1909 and 1911. Allen said the card was in excellent condition, and said the next highest bid, $1.3 million, was placed on behalf of a client who wished to remain anonymous.
Wagner’s card was among the first of hundreds of cards of major league players produced by the American Tobacco Co. and included in packages of cigarettes.
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The record price for a baseball card is $2.8 million—paid in 2007 for a near-mint condition Wagner card released in 1909 by the American Tobacco Company.
John Rogers, 35, of North Little Rock, Ark., said his winning bid for the T206 Wagner card is the realization of a decades-long dream.
“I call this the holy grail of baseball cards,†Rogers said in a phone interview. “I’ve looked at a number of other specimens, sat in a few other Wagner auctions. But this is the one that makes collecting worth while.â€
Rogers has collected baseball cards since he was 6. When he was in the second grade, he said he cut out a copy of a Wagner card and carried it around in his pocket.
“Since I was 8 years old, I’ve hoped and dreamed that one day I’d be able to get one,†Rogers said.
Bidders at the Friday night auction also spent $42,000 on Ken Griffey, Jr.’s 600th home run ball and $240,000 for a 1938 Lou Gehrig Yankees road jersey, said Doug Allen, Mastro Auctions chief operating officer.
The T206 cards are from a series issued between 1909 and 1911. Allen said the card was in excellent condition, and said the next highest bid, $1.3 million, was placed on behalf of a client who wished to remain anonymous.
Wagner’s card was among the first of hundreds of cards of major league players produced by the American Tobacco Co. and included in packages of cigarettes.
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