Auction's most costly vintage baseball cards![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
The history of vintage baseball card auctions is long and colorful.
Over 5,000 vintage sports and non-sports items in each weekly auction
T-206 Honus Wagner tobacco cards have sold for upto $2.8 million in
auction. The "Holy Grail of Sports Cards", it's extreme-high auction
value can mostly be attributed to great PR and "auction fever".
It's not close to being the rarest baseball card and Honus Wagner is not
Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle. Yes, the T-206 set is beautiful & special but
because of the # of cards and scarcities, few collector's try to complete,
which should keep auction competition down compared to say 1933 Goudey
or 1952 Topps baseball card issues. There's a story Wagner banned his card because he was anti-tobacco but there are other stories about financial considerations. You surely have heard of PSA and may even know that this card was the FIRST they ever graded. But did you know that dealer (B.l. .ast.o name encoded) admitted tampering with the card, perhaps having it trimmed down to size, before PSA graded it so highly for the auction.
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![]() ![]() 1962 Fleer FootballThe 1962 Fleer Football set contained (88) cards. The set's top rookies were:Future Pro-Wrestler Ernie 'the Big Cat' Ladd Future TV/Movie Star Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson. Note: You may be on that page right now. |
1964/1965 Challenge the Yankees![]() Baseball Board Game"Challenge The Yankees" was a popular baseball board game from Hasbro in 1964 & 1965.
(50) player cards: (25) Yankees and (25) All-Star opponents,
made the game a treasure trove for collectors. 4" x 5-1/2" cards
came in blank-backed perforated sheets on a fairly fragile paper
stock.
1964/1965 cards are nearly the same with a stat line the only way
to distinguish. A couple cards even have same stats so no way to tell
them apart.
Click for complete 1964/1965 Challenge the Yankees Baseball Board Game (you may be on that page now) |
Airbrushing is the art of touching up a photo prior to the card being printed. It was generally done to remove imperfections or update or hide a players jersey/cap logo. Because of advancements in print technology and computers this is no longer needed.
All-Star card (AS) usually a subset card picturing a player who participated in the previous season’s all-star game. Topps created these in their 1958 High Number issue and has continued the practice fairly regularly to date. Such cards are usually designated in price guides with the abbreviation of AS.
Assorted A general mix of cards often containing many duplicates.
Auction items are sold to the highest bidder. Auctions used to be live or thru the mail/phone but today most auctions are online.
Auction Catalog lists the rules and descriptions and often images of the items in an auction.
Authentication verification that an item (card, autograph) is genuine. Most "game-used" material inserts have a written declaration of authenticity on the reverse. Authorized Issue card or memorabilia item that has been properly licensed. If the item is of a player, his written permission must be given in order for it to be considered authorized.