(LOT 19)
1910 E90-2 American Caramel Co. Honus Wagner SGC 2 GOOD
WAGNER PORTRAIT POSE!!! No one could possibly argue that the T206 Honus Wagner will forever reside as the hobby's "Holy Grail" collectible, and while every cardboard collector dreams about owning this card, low-grade examples now require a $2 million+ budgets. Indeed, capturing a T206 Wagner has evolved into a near-impossible conquest, justifying why recent prices for similar pre-WWI Wagner issues portraying the same Carl Horner portrait image have likewise escalated through the roof. Undervalued for the longest time, the floodgates have officially opened with regard to their soaring values. Over the past year, several Tip Top Wagner's have fetched $156K (3 VG) and $144K (4 VG-EX OC) price tags, two M116 blue background Wagner's nailed down $72K (5.5 EX+) and $52K (3 VG), with Memory Lane realizing a record $117K for a highly coveted PSA 5 EX E90-2 Wagner. There appears to be no end in sight for these tsunami-like pricing upticks, with the E90-2 Wagner one of his most coveted cardboard keepsakes.

Issued in early 1910 by the American Caramel Co., it was part of an 11-card Pittsburgh Pirates set commemorating Pittsburgh's momentous 1909 World Series win over Detroit. No longer the hobby's best kept secret, the E90-2 Wagner is clearly in the midst of elevating itself as one of the most desirable vintage cards on the planet due to its iconic Carl Horner lithographic Wagner portrait pose. Of course, like so many other turn-of-the-century candy cards, it's subjected to extreme condition sensitivity, with this eye-pleasing SGC 2 GOOD marvel revealing near-perfect centering. The combined SGC and PSA census reports list 150+ E90-2 Wagner's versus some 60-70 known examples of its T206 brethren. The overwhelming pricing disparity for these two cards isn't remotely proportional to the roughly 2:1 population delta, indicating that the E90-2 Wagner is immensely undervalued as opposed to the mega million-dollar price tags associated with its T206 counterpart. Gazing at this museum-worthy masterpiece inspires even the novice collector to yearn for moments from their youth—opening a pack of baseball cards or partaking in a sandlot pick-up game.

Wagner's classic portrait image, originally struck by Carl Horner in 1903, exhibits robust facial hues, encompassed by a super-eye-pleasing bright blue background, as well as portraying virtually perfect positioning. Accounting for the grade is soiling/toning along the borders and verso, even corner wear and a faint diagonal wrinkle in the upper right quadrant. Most significantly, one of the hobby's "sure things" is the future prosperity of the T206 Wagner and its strikingly similar portrait brethren that may not have even touched the tip of the iceberg with regard to their unlimited investment potential. As previously stated, the value of these portrait Wagner issues appears to have no boundaries, with these remarkable cardboard heirlooms sufficing as one of the globe's safest assets. Equally impressive is the Wagner portrait's unwavering presence, standing as a cornerstone of baseball treasure, effectively transcending the avid fan through a century of time.

It is DeWolf Hopper's "Casey at the Bat" and Jack Norworth's "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"; it is our "Star Spangled Banner" National Anthem; it is the embodiment of an avid young baseball fan scrambling to the local mom and pop store to open a pack of baseball cards; it conjures up visions of Ty Cobb violently sliding into 3rd base with his sharpened spikes pointed upwards; or Babe Ruth walloping another majestic home run into the grandstands. It is all of these captivating visions and so much more. Honus Wagner's place in baseball history is forever solidified by his status as the game's greatest shortstop, with his incredible on-the-field achievements meriting him a 1936 charter membership into baseball's HOF. Yet his iconic image on this grandeur offering goes far beyond Wagner's diamond achievements, with its immortal reverence turning back the clock to the glorious origins of our National Pastime. Whether it is for the simple sheer joy of collecting, the right to own a copy or its outstanding investment potential, the unequivocal eminence of this exalted E90-2 Wagner heirloom will surely echo for eternity!

MIN BID $10,000
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