Mickey Mantle’s worth is gaining ground on Honus Wagner’s value

WHAT: Move over, Honus Wagner! Mickey Mantle is gaining on you.

Smart collectors know that the most expensive baseball card in the world is the T206 Honus Wagner card printed as part of a circa 1909 series by the American Tobacco Company. In 1985, one of the less than 60 original cards known to exist sold for $25,000. Fast-forward to 2016, when a T206 Wagner card sold to a private collector for $3.12 million. Shortly after that, the sports auction house owner who paid $25,000 for a T206 card in 1985 was accused of having trimmed side edges on the card. He pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and is sentenced to prison.

MORE: Fast-forward again to last month, when in an online event, Heritage Auctions sold a circa 1952 Mickey Mantle #311 Topps card for $2.88 million. Graded Mint 9 on a scale of 1-10 by PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator), a grading and authentication service respected in the sports world, the card set a new record. The #311 was the first Mantle card issued by Topps.

SMART COLLECTORS KNOW: The Honus Wagner card has been owned by so many pro players, including Wayne Gretzky, mega-millionaires and team owners, that it has developed a legend of its own. But generations collect their own memories, plus the Wagner card has become stratospheric to own. Most younger investors simply cannot relate to it as a “get.” Perhaps its day has peaked.

HOT TIP: Fraud and outright deceit behind the T206 card saga damaged the high-end card collecting industry badly. Some investors will move on to more recent cards.

BOTTOM LINE: Readers who discarded or brutalized their #311 Mantle cards during childhood will probably read this and weep.

(c) 2018 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.