Wagner Card Buyer Goes Public
L O S A N G E L E S, July 18 -- Brian Seigel is the proud owner of a HonusWagner baseball card that cost him a record $1.265 million, andhe’d love to share it with fans and collectors around the country.
He’s got some ideas along those lines, but right now, the40-year-old Californian is just ecstatic to have what he called theHoly Grail, the Mona Lisa of baseball cards in his possession.
“It’s a dream come true,” Seigel said by telephone today, three days after winning an online auction for the card depicting thePittsburgh Pirates’ Hall of Fame shortstop. “There is no othercard like this.”
Widely regarded as one of the rarest and most coveted amongcollectors, the card is the finest known specimen of about 50Wagner cards known to exist from the 1909 set issued by theAmerican Tobacco Company.
Wagner Card Buyer Ecstatic
Seigel’s identity was not made public Saturday when RobertLifson, president of Robert Edward Auctions in Watchung, N.J.,confirmed the sale price — $1.1 million plus a 15 percentcommission, the highest ever paid for a baseball card.
“That was part of the fun of the whole thing,” Seigel said ofhis decision to identify himself at a news conference at AnaheimStadium. “I don’t want to go into hibernation, I want to promotethe hobby.
“I wouldn’t call anything a bargain for over $1 million. Thefact is, this is the value of the card. It just sold at auction,everybody knew about it. The value of something is how much peopleare willing to pay for it.”
Bidding on the card on eBay began at $500,000 on July 5, and 13bids were made. The card, won in an auction for $640,500 byChicago-based collector Michael Gidwitz in 1996, broke its ownrecord for a sports card.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, this one has been graded an 8,” Seigelsaid. “The next highest Honus Wagner card has been graded a 4.That sold late last year for $325,000. That’s the second-mostvaluable card in the whole hobby. This is the best-known of a veryrare card, it’s in near mint-to-mint condition.”
Popular Reads
ABC News Live