Honus Wagner Video

 Saw this video of Honus Wagner with audio on Net54 and wanted to share it with you all.

I love seeing videos of old prewar stars and games in action.  Here's a video where they interview Honus Wagner and you get to hear him talk and see him take batting practice and do a bit of fielding.  I always imagined he had a strong German accent for whatever reason, but he really doesn't have one at all.

Wagner was considered one of the games greatest shortstops when he played.  He's known to the general public because of his famous T206 baseball card that consistently sells for more than a million dollars.  This generally makes the news every time it happens and spreads the mystique of Honus Wagner.  

But beyond the baseball card, Honus was a great player and a first ballot Hall of Famer.  He was known as The Flying Dutchman because of his speed and German heritage.  He won eight batting titles in his career.  That record has never been broken to this day (although it has been matched by Tony Gwynn).

Wagner debuted in baseball in 1897 and played until 1917.  He started with the Louisville Colonels and when the National League dropped four teams after the 1899 season, the owner of the team took Wagner to the Pittsburg Pirates the next year and Honus continued with Pittsburg though the end of his career.

I hope you enjoyed the video folks.  I thought it was really cool.

Enjoy the hobby all...it's a great one.

Hans in Blue shows up on eBay

Years ago I posted about the c. 1910 E-Unc Honus Wagner (Blue Caption) card.

Back then it was the first I had seen the card and I was fascinated by it.  It still remains my favorite Wagner card.  It appears the set is also known as the Blue Caption set and there are a few known examples.  The checklist is not complete as so few are known and the background of the set is a mystery.

Well, I was just scrolling through eBay and there it was, a Blue Caption Wagner for sale!  Then I looked at the price...$25,000.00 plus $200.00 shipping.  Don't get me started on asking $200 for shipping when you're asking $25K for a card (I feel like shipping and insurance should be included in a $25K purchase). 

When this card sold in Heritage 10 years ago it sold for $4,481.25.  Well, not this exact card, but the other known example which was an SGC 10 example.  Is this SGC 20 (from the Richard Egan collection) worth $20K more?  I don't think so, but I could be wrong. 

I figured I would show the SGC 10 as well as a comparison.  Note: these are the only two examples known at this time.

 

I really wish I knew more about the set so I could give you some background.  But all I have to offer are a couple more scans of cards from the set.  Here are the Bridwell and McCormick cards.

 

 

Notice the extra large borders on this Bridwell example.  It almost looks hand cut to me.  

 

 



The McCormick has a couple large borders as well and some stray red printing.  Both have terrible quality images, but the same blue font for the name and team.

If you have any scans of any other players I'd love to get them if you would share them with me.  Please let me know if you do. 

Enjoy the hobby all...it's a great one.

REA Spring 2019 Auction

The 2019 Robert Edward Auctions Spring Auction is now open for bidding and I wanted to share a few of my favorite items with you.

I've gone through the cards that interest me in the current REA auction and pulled a bunch of cards (and a photo) that are some of my favorites.  Lets start with the photo shall we.

This is an original Type 1 photo of Negro League legend Josh Gibson that was used for his 1950-51 Toleteros rookie card.  I'm including an image of the actual card (also in the auction) for comparison.

 

 

Here is the 1893 Just So Jesse Burkett Rookie.  This card is interesting in that is has been restored, but it is so rare (2 known) that it doesn't really matter.   When it was originally discovered it was just the photo part of the card. The entire mount was missing.  The owner found a different Just So of an actress card and had professional restoration done attaching the original photo to the actress mount.

 



 



I don't necessarily collect 19th century cards, but I do like a lot of them.  I particularly like the N172 Old Judge Mike "King" Kelly cards.  Here are two nice examples side by side.  An SGC 6 and SGC 3.5.  I actually like the image on the 3.5 more than on the 6. 

 

Another awesome 19th century set is the 1887 N175 Gypsy Queen set.  They are more rare than their Old Judge counterparts.  I like the Gypsy Queen logo at the top of the cards.  This example is a really nice one as it is a horizontal, two player and HOF card all in one.  It features HOFer Tim Keefe with his teammate Danny Richardson.  It has a nice strong image as well which is another big plus for these cards.

 

 





Now let's move on to the 20th century and the prewar cards that I like in the auction. 

This one would fit right in to my collection as it is a nice low grade card.  I still won't win it, but I'd love to own it.  The 1911 E94 Hans Wagner gold background version.  I'm drawn to the gold versions of this set. 

 

Another set that is related to the E94s is the M131 Baltimore News Newsboys set.  This set uses the same images and checklist as E94 but all the cards have the blue background.  They also have additional type on the reverses that say "The Baltimore News Newsboys Series" at the top.  Here are the four examples in the auction.  Click the image to enlarge it.

 

 

 

My favorite Ty Cobb card, the 1909 E102 Anonymous issue.  The pose with Cobb leaning on his bat and the striking background color make for and amazing card in my opinion.

 

 

Well, let's get to the more common (or not really) T206s.  First up would be a couple southern leaguer Dutch Revelle cards that would be a great start to a back run for someone.  First, the blank back example.

 

 

Then the uber rare Brown Old Mill example.  What?!  Talk about a rare card.

 

 

Also, one of my favorite HOF poses is the Clarke Griffith with bat and this particular example has the rare Cycle 460 back.  This back seems to be a bit more rare than it is given credit for at the present time.  And I happen to like it quite a bit. 

 

 

Last but not least are a couple of my favorite Zeenut cards.  First is a very historically important and rare card of Jimmy Claxton.  This 1916 Zeenut is the first American issued baseball card featuring a black player.  It was a great timing of events that resulted in the issuing of this card as Jimmy was only with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League for one week in 1916.  That week just happened to be the week that the Zeenut photographer was with the team taking pictures and he got a shot of Claxton that eventually made it on the featured card.  This is not the most well known card in the hobby, but has great significance making it a favorite of mine.

 

 

The next Zeenut that is one of my favorites is the 1922 card of legendary athlete Jim Thorpe.  This is one of only a few cards of Thorpe from his playing days and his only card featuring him in the Pacific Coast League.  He is pictured with the Portland Beavers. 

 

 

Well, there you have it folks.  Some of my pics to showcase some of my favorite cards in the current REA Spring auction.  Here is a link to the auction so you can peruse the offerings yourself.  REA Link.  I highly recommend taking a look at the auction, even if you don't plan to bid you'll see some amazing items.  Now, I just focused on the cards portion of the auction, but there is amazing memorabilia as well if you're into that stuff. 

 

Let me know what your favorites are.  I'd be interested to see what I missed.

 

Enjoy the hobby all...it's an amazing one.















Franken-Wagner Fetches $420K

A T206 Honus Wagner slabbed as a PSA Authentic "Restored" example has recently sold in a Memory Lane auction.

There is much debate in the hobby regarding this card between those who accept the card as it is and those who are not happy about the restoration of the card.  Regardless of what you think about the card's restoration, it is what it is.  It's a nice looking example of the most iconic and valuable baseball card in the hobby. 

True, the borders are all newly added and the back has been completely rebuilt, but it is also labeled as "Restored" and only graded Authentic so it's not being misrepresented as it is. 

Let's take a look at the card before the restoration.

 

Ok, so that's a rough looking card.  Three borders completely trimmed off.  A fairly large spot of paper loss at the top of the front.  The back is either missing or covered in lined paper that is glued to it.  Either way, it's bad.  At least the image of Honus is still pretty decent.

 

It took $14,000 of professional restoration to bring the card back to where it is today.  Let's take a look at the restored version now. 

 

 

Quite a transformation huh?  Seriously, how did it go from the before to this? 

 

The argument (or debate) is whether or not this has gone too far.  What is too much to add to a terrible condition card to restore it?  Is it ok to add some color here or there?  Or to remove paper that was glued to the back of a card?  Are those innocent enough to be acceptable or is no type of change acceptable? 

 

Some folks even argued that a person could take an expensive/rare card and cut it up into several pieces and then "restore" each of the pieces to make several new cards and sell them off for huge profits.  I think that's a bit of a stretch personally, but I understand the idea. 

 

So what do you think about this card?  Is it fair to consider it an authentic Wagner or no?  Would you mind owning this one knowing how much is not original or would you only want a completely unrestored example?  Would you rather have this card in the "before" state?  Let me know in the comments.  I'd love to hear from some of you.

 

Enjoy the hobby all...it's a great one.



T206 Wagner With A Backstamp

As some of you may know I collect T206s with stamps on the backs of them.

I also have a project called The Great T206 Backstamp Project where I am documenting as many backstamps as I can find.  It is an interactive project and I welcome everyone to participate if you have any T206s with stamps on the back.

There is a link to my project in the sidebar but you can also access it here.

This T206 Honus Wagner sold in the May 2012 REA auction for $651,750.  The last time this card surfaced in the hobby was back in 1997 when REA auctioned it off then.  It is stamped with the date "Oct. 16, 1909" which is the date of the last game of the 1909 World Series between the Pittsburg Pirates and the Detroit Tigers. 

Now I know I'll be able to add a Wagner to my stamped back collection some day.

Please check out my project and help me out if you can.  I'm in the process of moving the website to a new location also and that will go live in the next week or so.  It will have much more flexibility in the number of pages and images I'll be able to add.

Enjoy the hobby all...it's a great one.

Hans in Blue

After years of immersing myself in the vintage baseball card hobby, I feel like I can identify most cards by type. It isn't very often anymore that something shows up that I haven't ever seen before.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised when someone posted a picture of this Honus Wagner card on a the Net54 vintage card message board.

My first thought was that he was playing a joke on the board and he was good at Photoshop. However, after contacting the poster, he assured me that this was an uncatalogued Wagner card.

He had won it on eBay a while back and said it had originally sold in a Mastro Legendary Auctions in August 2004. At that time it was part of a larger lot of prewar cards. (A nice lot I must say). Check out the original auction listing here.

Apparently, there are only 2 examples of this card known at this time. I love finding out about a new card. It's even better when that card is of the caliber of a Wagner. Better yet? When there are only 2 copies known to exist!

I wanted to make sure to share this with anyone who follows my blog (I know I'm not posting as much as I should, but I'm glad some of you are still checking it out) because this is the sort of thing you need to know when you're serious about your hobby.

One of the two examples was labelled at one point as a "w-unc" by PSA. I assume they gave it the W label because it is blank backed, but from what I'm told, it's not much like a strip card other than the blank back.

The other known copy, sold in a Heritage Auction in April 2009 and resides in an SGC holder with the label, "C. 1910 E-Unc Candy". This makes a bit more sense to me than a W label. Check out the Heritage listing here.

This SGC example closed at $4,481.25 with the buyer's premium. I'm a bit surprised at this figure to be honest. I would have thought that such a rare Wagner would have brought a lot more than this. I guess maybe the fact that it isn't well known and doesn't have any advertising on it kept the price down, but seriously? Only two known and less than $5K?

I think with a little good press in the hobby and the right exposure, one of these babies could fetch a much better sum in a good auction.

I guess time will tell. Personally, I think it's an awesome card. Even if it doesn't have the most clear image or any advertising.

Well, enjoy the hobby all. It's a great one.

Another New Wagner!

Wow, people, another new T206 Honus Wagner has entered our hobby.

Philip Weiss Auctions of Long Island, NY will be auctioning off a newly discovered example of the iconic card commonly referred to as "Holy Grail" of the baseball card world. Following is the description from their website:

Honus Wagner. T-206. Graded. SGC Graded Honus Wagner 3. This is a Golden Opportunity to own a "Fresh to the Market " example of the "Holy Grail" of Baseball cards. Found in the basement of an Oceanside home, this card has been in the possession of the same family since it was printed. It is impossible to say how many more of these reside unknown in basements or attics but now is the chance to add this to your collection. With the price of this card steadily on the rise, do not miss this opportunity to purchase a beautiful example of this card. Please view the scans carefully or examine in person, some believe this might even be graded on the conservative side.

They have estimated the value between $500,000 and $900,000, which seems like a pretty big spread if you ask me. It is a very nice example of this card, which is usually found with several flaws commonly in the form of multiple creases. Click here to see the actual listing.

Just for fun, here is a link to a nice collection of images of the Wagner card: The Wagner Gallery

The lesson here is to always keep your hope alive, you just might find the next big hobby gem in your neck of the woods someday.

Enjoy the hobby all, it's a super one...

The Beckett T206 Wagner

The Beckett Wagner is just one of 546 new T206's to enter the hobby from a new find that came from a non-collector who had inherited the cards years ago.

The Wagner, along with the other cards from the find, are currently up for sale in the Robert Edward Auctions Spring auction. I have to agree with REA when they state that this is a very attractive low grade example of this hobby gem. I have a particular soft spot for cards that are beat up pretty good. I like to know that they were enjoyed long ago, that someone handled them and showed to friends, carried them around with them, had a bunch of them in a box and they all got banged up over the years.

This card is a great beater as far as I'm concerned. It has evenly rounded corners and even some creasing and a bit of paperloss, but the image is bold and vibrant with a great background color. Even Hans' rosy cheeks are clear in this image.

We all know this is the "Holy Grail" of baseball cards and that it has legendary status, and most people outside the hobby (I assume) attribute this to the rarity of the card. There are, however, a great deal of cards that are more rare that the T206 Honus Wagner card. In fact, there are many Wagner cards that are more rare than this one. But, this Wagner is from the greatest of pre-war baseball card sets; the T206 White Border set. I am not trying to argue that this is not a rare card though. People have different opinions about how to define "rare" when talking about baseball cards. But with around 50 examples estimated to exist of this card, let's call it rare for now.

In the not so distant past this card would bring headlines when it would become available for sale. The Gretzky/McNall Wagner would get national headlines (okay, maybe not headlines, but at least national coverage) when it came up for sale each time. But right now, as I type this, there are TWO of them up for auction at the same time! Simply amazing! The example pictured above is being sold in the Robert Edward Auctions Spring 2008 Auction and the second example, an SGC10 example, is being sold in the Heritage Auction.

But wait, this gets better. The uncataloged Joe Jackson card pictured to the left is quite rare as well. In fact, in Mastro Auctions, Inc. current auction catalog they say that "just two examples, in total, are known to exist". I would say that is pretty rare. This example is the exact one that Mastro is offering up right now.

Well, if in fact there are only two examples known to exist then you can see them both right now. The other one is currently for sale in the same REA auction mentioned above. Regarding the card's rarity, REA says in their catalog that the one they are offering is "the only example of this card we have ever seen".

This is amazing folks. This is one of the things that I love about this hobby. Most people can not afford the T206 Wagner, and a lot of people can not afford one of the Joe Jacksons here, but we can all enjoy them because of these auction houses and the internet.

I have no idea what this Jackson will end up at when the bidding ends, but we all know it will be nowhere near either of the two Wagners being offered. And I don't think that is a surprise to anybody. I guess rarity isn't the only thing that puts value on a card.

I, for one, am very interested to see where the hammer falls with these four cards. Not to mention all the other amazing items in these auctions. There are even three T206 Magie Errors being offered just in REA alone. And Heritage has three of the four biggies from the T206 set, Wagner, Plank and Magie.

Enjoy the hobby everyone. It really is a wonderful place to spend some time.