$2 Million Not in the Cards, Collector Told

A leading collector of baseball memorabilia is hoping to sell a rare proof sheet of five 80-year-old baseball cards for $2 million, but experts say the offering price is a major-league fantasy.

The proof strip, which officially goes on sale Tuesday, contains the extremely rare and celebrated 1910 Honus Wagner T-206 card, the last specimen of which fetched $115,000 late last year, a record for a baseball card.

The strip’s owner, Barry Halper, is considered one of the foremost collectors of baseball memorabilia in the country. The five-card proof strip, probably the only one in existence, features Wagner and four other players from the same era, and Halper has priced it at $2 million.

Experts say, however, that if the strip were put up for auction, it would probably sell for less than $100,000.

And Halper’s spokesman admits that the strip probably won’t fetch the sticker price, which seems to be pegged high to garner publicity for baseball card collecting.

The Wagner card gained legendary status when the Pittsburgh shortstop--an anti-smoking zealot--demanded that it be withdrawn from circulation because it had been issued by a tobacco company.