How many different Wagners have sold publicly?

[Hankphenom]

Fred McKie's post of the history of the current REA Wagner got me to wondering exactly how many different examples of the iconic card have traded "on the record," either in an auction or by a sale that was noted contemporaneously. I remember seeing--probably here, a tally of all those known to exist. This would be a slight twist on that.

[Pat R]

Hank, Here's a list of many of the Wagner sales going back to 1981.

http://www.t206resource.com/WagnerSales.html

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Pat R

Hank, Here's a list of many of the Wagner sales going back to 1981.

http://www.t206resource.com/WagnerSales.html

Great List and amazing seeing the selling history.

Amazed you had this type of list

Thanks

[ALBB]

Wow, that is really a informative list !

[Pat R]

Jim, Tim and Art at t206resource are the people to thank for the great list that they started and keep updated.


Here's the Wagner Gallery on the site, there's a scan of the Wagner before it was graded (#32)

http://www.t206resource.com/Wagner-Gallery.html

[RedsFan1941]

i am sure ted has that list too

[vthobby]

Whoever was at the Sothebys Auction must be kicking themselves!

12/04/04
Sothebys
PSA 4
$0.00
Did not sell

Incredibly list!

Thanks for sharing!~

Mike

[Hankphenom]

Very cool. Interesting that not a single example came up for sale publicly during the decade of the 80s when the hobby was exploding. No doubt the price paid for the Gretzky in '91 brought about much of the action in that decade. I'd love to see a chronological list of the sales of each particular card to highlight the movement in prices realized over time.

[Frank A]

I was at a local auction in, I believe New Milford, Connecticut back in the mid 1980's and watched one sell for $36,000. I did not have $36,000. Thought it was a good deal. The buyer was from Cooperstown.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Frank A

I was at a local auction in, I believe New Milford, Connecticut back in the mid 1980's and watched one sell for $36,000. I did not have $36,000. Thought it was a good deal. The buyer was from Cooperstown.

Larry Fritsch, maybe, wasn't his shop in Cooperstown then? And I'd think that event would have made it into the hobby press at the time, but perhaps not if the auction was strictly a local affair. On the other hand, that would have been the record for a baseball card at that time, right, assuming Mastro paid $25,000 for his uncut sheet, and should have made something of a splash nationally. Anybody else heard about this auction?

[Howe’s Hunter]

Sorry if hijacking the thread, but I’m curious about Wagner’s with a Piedmont back. I have it on good authority that the gentle who stamped all his cards that I collect had a Wagner. With a Piedmont back. I’ve heard from two people who saw it as late as 1975, but it hasn’t been seen since, as far as I can tell.

So I know any Wagner is rare and valuable. And that only three or four examples are known to have the Piedmont back. But I’ve never actually seen a front/back scan combo of Wagner/Piedmont. And I’m guessing that unless someone wanted to spend the money to remove the stamp from the back of the card (and it would cover most of it), it should still exist. Maybe just tucked away in a very private collection since the late 70s.

But if anyone knows somebody who knows somebody who has a Piedmont Wagner, I’d really appreciate hearing from them. Seems like there should be some sort of secret society of Wagner owners that would meet at Lou Malnati’s under the elevated train tracks in Chicago once a year and compare stories and offers.

If I ever get one, I’ll start that. 😄😉

[BRoberts]

No. 19 in this gallery from T206resource.com.

http://t206resource.com/Wagner-Gallery.html

[Frank A]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Larry Fritsch, maybe, wasn't his shop in Cooperstown then? And I'd think that event would have made it into the hobby press at the time, but perhaps not if the auction was strictly a local affair. On the other hand, that would have been the record for a baseball card at that time, right, assuming Mastro paid $25,000 for his uncut sheet, and should have made something of a splash nationally. Anybody else heard about this auction?

If you look up Paul Leanard, Auctioneer you will see that it sold for $32,000. Hard for an old guy to remember that far back. Got it right now. It's written in his obit. He was a good guy. Frank

[Pat R]

There are 3 or 4 Piedmont Wagner's I think I have scans of all of them but I will have to check.

Wagner PSA 8 A.jpg

[GasHouseGang]

I thought it was really interesting to see they have the 21a picture of the McNall/Gretzky Wagner and then picture 21c, which is presumably the same card before the trimming took place. I don't remember seeing the before and after of this famous card.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Frank A

If you look up Paul Leanard, Auctioneer you will see that it sold for $32,000. Hard for an old guy to remember that far back. Got it right now. It's written in his obit. He was a good guy. Frank

That would have been a record, right? Do you know if that got any attention, local or national?

[ctownboy]

Ted Koch (RIP) of Indianapolis once told me he owned a T206 Wagner. Can anyone verify that or know if it has sold?

David

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Frank A

I was at a local auction in, I believe New Milford, Connecticut back in the mid 1980's and watched one sell for $36,000. I did not have $36,000. Thought it was a good deal. The buyer was from Cooperstown.

If it's the same one,

Woodbury Ct. Nutmeg Auctions.

I was also there. They waited for the eventual buyer to arrive, moving on to other lots after a brief delay then going back to it once he arrived.

I still have the auction catalog somewhere.

What got funny was that the card was a pretty clear f-p, creased and writing on the back. Over the next year it was offered by a string of dealers in SCD, and each time it's grade got better.... Not alterations, just wishful grading. Last ad was I think for 9K and calling it VG.

[steve B]

The one from Woodbury might... just maybe could also be #39 the Chesapeake Wagner.

Which would be strange for it to turn up in two different finds after being sold fairly often.

I'll have to compare the picture once I find the auction catalog. That won't be soon, as it's with a bunch of "less organized" stuff.

[Robert_Lifson]

The Paul Leonard Wagner sold in 1993 for approximately $32,000 is definitely card # 39a (and also # 39b) in the T206Resource Wagner Gallery. This card was offered by REA in June 1995 (it was Lot 937). When offered, I nicknamed it “The Cooperstown Wagner” because it was prominently displayed at Tom Catal’s “Mickey’s Place”, an institution in Cooperstown, and had been seen by many thousands of baseball fans in Cooperstown. The minimum bid was $39,000 (a lot at the time, now a rounding error). I was OK with the high minimum bid (though it was much more than I preferred; after all, it was a Wagner!) The consignor was fine if it sold or didn’t sell. I was happy to be able to offer it but knew going in that with this minimum bid it was 50/50 if it was going to sell.

On the night of the auction close it still didn’t have the opening bid (strictly due to the high minimum bid) and finally a very prominent collector/dealer (who is still around and a valued member of Net54) made a reasonable proposal just before we shut down the auction to get a slight break on the price all of which came directly from REA’s commission but allowed us to sell the card and make everyone happy. By memory (and I could be off a little but this is what I recall) the total sale price was $39,500.

When the card came up for auction again in 2014 as part of a massive collection of 3500 T206s assembled by a collector in Chesapeake, SCP dubbed the collection “The Chesapeake Find” and renamed the Wagner “The Chesapeake Wagner”.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

I thought it was really interesting to see they have the 21a picture of the McNall/Gretzky Wagner and then picture 21c, which is presumably the same card before the trimming took place. I don't remember seeing the before and after of this famous card.

That's really the untrimmed PSA 8? I heard there were pictures...WOW.

edited to add WOW.

.

[marzoumanian]

Thank you, Rob "Just the Facts" Lifson. You come through whenever you're needed. Peace.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by marzoumanian

Thank you, Rob "Just the Facts" Lifson. You come through whenever you're needed. Peace.

+1

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by Leon

That's really the untrimmed PSA 8? I heard there were pictures...WOW.

edited to add WOW.

.

Yeah, that's what I thought!