Damaged T206 Honus Wagner card sells for $1.5 million at auction

Even a damaged 1909 T206 Honus Wagner baseball card is worth a fortune. 

A tattered Wagner card was purchased at auction on Monday for $1,528,066 by an unknown bidder.

A total of 75 bids were received on the card throughout the 17-day auction conducted by Robert Edwards Auctions.

"The results from this auction speak to the ever-present and growing demand for Wagner cards — which transcends the hobby — in any condition," said Brian Dwyer, president of Robert Edward Auctions. "This card was (sold) in 2019 for $540,000; that buyer purchased it in 2012 for $198,850. It's exciting to see this card continue to rewrite the record books."

This particular Wagner card was graded by PSA (Professional Sports Authenticators) as "altered," the company's lowest designation for cards. In this case, three of the four borders were removed at one point in time. The card also displays two creases across the image. 

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The record for the most expensive sports collector's card of all-time is a T206 Wagner. The T206 card sold, evaluated a 3 out of 10 by SGC (Sportscard Guaranty Corporation), sold for $6,606,296 million in August 2021 by Robert Edward Auction, breaking the existing record of $5,200,000 set by a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle.