[benjulmag]

In the early to mid-'70s, Wagners were regarded as $1,500 cards. Condition then was much less of a factor than it is today, and from the perspective of one who was looking to acquire to acquire a Wagner at that price, I would have been happy with a vg card (by 1970's vg standards). By the mid-'80s, when I finally acquired a Wagner, I paid $25,500 for one (ungraded but most likely a solid 5 by today's standards). At the time, to my knowledge, it was the highest price ever paid for a baseball card. Another top Wagner, the former Halper example that is now at the HOF, was on the market for $27,500. It had been auctioned by Lew Lipset in the '80's (1982 as I recall), for a tad over 25k. As the '80's wore on offering prices for high end (vg-ex and better) Wagners were moving steadily up, but still in 5 figures. It was not until the watershed Copeland sale at Sotheby's when the "8" (raw at the time) sold did the prices for Wagners explode. What is interesting is that even then the rumors were rampant that "the card" was trimmed.