Updated: On Monday, February 26, 2007 it was reported that a 1909 Honus Wagner tobacco card, formerly owned by Wayne Gretzky, sold for $2.35 million US to an anonymous Southern California collector. This makes the card the most expensive baseball card ever purchased.

Originally issued as novelties for baseball fans and as a marketing technique by tobacco dealers, baseball cards have grown into a large industry of vintage collectors and resellers and new market dealers. They are available in most toy and big-box chain stores such as Target, across the nation at independent storefronts and through vendors online.

A relatively volatile market, the baseball card industry has prominent pieces that have and likely will always be quite valuable, but has seen instability in the last two decades. In the 1980s, a market of reselling vintage cards developed, and soon became oversaturated with newly issued and reissued cards as card makers and collectors alike sought to cash in on these hot commodities. It became quickly apparent that the majority of cards have little or no value in a resale market, and specially issued “rarities” were included in sets to entice buyers into purchasing bulk packages in the hopes of finding that gold nugget. While effective at generating sales, many of these specially issued cards lacked a rarity or even a demand that would be necessary to keep artificially inflated prices high for long. Even so, the card collecting industry, which has expanded beyond baseball and even sports in general, remains vibrant.

This may lead one to ask, what is most expensive baseball card in the world? Since the 1980s, the Honus Wagner T206 white-rimmed tobacco baseball card has been regarded as the most-highly sought after baseball card available. Issues in 1 in a run limited to about 60 cards, several are still on the market, and one was purchased on eBay for $1.27 million USD in July 2000 making it quite possibly the world’s most expensive baseball card. Wagner prevented his image from being used on tobacco cards produced in later years, hoping not to encourage kids to smoke.

Similarly lauded baseball cards include the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card, regarded to be worth over $300,000, virtually any card featuring Babe Ruth (his oversized 1914 Baltimore News card the prize of the bunch) or other legendary baseball icons such as Shoeless Joe Jackson.

The Honus Wagner card is considered so valuable that it may be worth a second check through your grandparent’s old collection and a trip to your local card shop, even a severely damaged Wagner card would potentially sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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