This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/10/2015
If you engage in conversation with most baseball fans, they'll readily be able to tell you about the Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron cards their mother callously threw away decades ago. Some older folks might regale you with stories of the amazing exploits of Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. But focus their attention to the first half of the 20th Century and the discussion will go directly to Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Lou Gehrig. Mention Honus Wagner and you're likely to get a response of "Oh yeah, he's on that really expensive tobacco card." Sure, they probably know that Wagner was a "really good player" but the casual baseball follower remembers Wagner more for his T206 card than for any of his on-field accomplishments. And that's a bit of a slight to "The Flying Dutchman" because Honus Wagner was, in essence, the National League's version of Ty Cobb. An 8-time batting champion with a career .328 batting average, Honus Wagner topped the .300 mark in 15 consecutive seasons. He may not have had the blinding speed of "The Georgia Peach" but he did manage to swipe a career 723 bases, leading the National League five times while topping 50 steals in five consecutive seasons. Perhaps it was destiny that Wagner and Cobb met as rivals in the 1909 World Series, the same year that the T206 series made its debut. The following year, the Standard Caramel Company produced a modest collection of their own, limited exclusively to just a handful of players, many of which had gone on to earn an immortal spot in Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of Fame. Of course, Ty Cobb, Cy Young and Christy Mathewson were included in the series, right alongside the greatest player from the reigning world champions, Honus Wagner. The featured card is a virtual impossibility, surviving unscathed throughout the 1900s to resurface in the 21st century as brilliant and pristine as the day it was made. Graded PSA 9, and to no one's surprise, it is the one and only specimen of Wagner to achieve such an incredible assessment and one of just 13 to earn the title of MINT from the entire 30-card collection. Even a quick glance will leave any collector scratching their head, wondering not only how this masterpiece has retained every bit of its rich red color but also surprised that such depth and fullness could even be achieved in 1910. The intense brightness of the border and clean canvas on the reverse clearly indicate that this card was never utilized as intended, spared the ravages of being confined with the stain-inducing confection. The image of Wagner is as precise and well presented as could be expected given the crude techniques used in the production of this set, and of course, a card this scarce doesn't achieve such a grade without edges and endpoints that are virtually flawless. And that's exactly what you have here as two of the four corners are unquestionably GEM MINT and the other two are right on the cusp between MINT+ and GEM MINT. A very slight centering bias toward the right edge and a small print mark to the right of Wagner's head; that's all that stands in the way of absolute perfection. Oh, you can spend half a million dollars on a beat down T206 Wagner, just to say you have one, or you can acquire something far more rare; the absolute finest specimen in existence of the great Honus Wagner during the height of his legendary career!