2002 Topps 206 Wagner Bat Relic Cards

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Pat R

Yeah the price does seem out of line for what I've seen them sell for in the past. A graded PSA gem mint 10 of the same card sold for $310.70 in a 2016 HA auction. Also there were supposedly 300 of this particular Wagner bat card produced, There are two other Wagner bat cards from the same set a blue and Red version that supposedly only had 25 of each produced.

Exactly right. There are three different versions of this card, and this yellow frame/orange background one is the most common at 300 cards supposedly produced. And given the manufactured rarities they produce today, I don't view 300 of something as particularly that rare.

And like you, in the past I've seen these consistently going in the $300-$400-$500 range. Given the recent market surge and all, and the fact it is a Wagner bat relic and T206 image, I could see if these were maybe starting to go for double what they were, but suddenly going something like 15X-20X previous prices.....WOW! And like you said, the other two versions are even rarer.

Makes me wonder what the Cobb bat relic card from this 2002 Topps 206 set would go for nowadays. There's only the one version of that card (with a "bat off" T206 image), but you never seem to see one of those come up for sale at all.

I'm not 100% certain, but is that 2002 Topps Wagner relic card the first ever GU bat card for Honus ever produced? If so, maybe that helps explain the suddenly crazy price for it. Maybe it is being viewed like his GU rookie card. Never even thought about that before, but could that become a new collecting thing, collecting the very first GU cards issued for a particular player, and treating it like another type of rookie card?