Honus Wagner Baseball Card Fetches $640,500 at Auction

A 1910 Honus Wagner baseball card, considered the Holy Grail of baseball collectibles, sold at auction Saturday for $640,500 and left its lucky ex-owner looking forward to early retirement.

“This is the pinnacle of my life, so far,” said the seller, Patricia Gibbs, 41, who won custody of the card in February as part of a national contest held by Wal-Mart.

The winning bidder was not identified by officials at Christie’s auction house. The final price, with the auction house premium, was nearly $200,000 more than Wayne Gretzky and former Los Angeles King owner Bruce McNall paid for it five years ago.

Gretzky subsequently sold the card to an Alabama company that joined Wal-Mart in the giveaway.

Only two mint-condition copies of the Wagner card exist, and only 50 of the 150 cards created 86 years ago are still around.

Gibbs, of Hollywood, Fla., hopes to use her windfall to retire from her job as a postal worker by the end of the century. She was forced to sell the card when tax officials told her the prize carried a tax bill of $140,000 to $160,000.