A recent surge in the prices of rare trading cards continued early Monday, with one classic shattering the previous mark for the most lucrative transaction in history.
A 1909 T206 Honus Wagner card has reportedly sold for $6.606M, smashing a record that had already been broken and later matched this year, according to reports.
Both the purchaser and seller of the ultra-rare and coveted Wagner card were anonymous, ESPN reported, with the buyer being identified only as "an East Coast collector."
The mark for the most expensive sale was reset in January, when a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card went for $5.2M, and again in April, when an autographed LeBron James rookie card fetched the same amount.
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The latest Wagner sale beat both of those cards by a comfortable margin of about $1.4M.
The T206 Wagner card has long held its place among baseball collectibles as one of the rarest and most sought-after cards. It's arguably the most familiar image of Wagner, who is depicted posing in a gray, blue-collared Pittsburgh jersey, against a yellow backdrop.
Only about 60 of the Wagner cards are known to exist, and many of them are in poor condition, according to the auction house behind the sale, ESPN reported.
"This Wagner stands out because of its condition," Robert Edwards Auctions president Brian Dwyer told the Worldwide Leader.
"This card is one of the best examples out there, and it's certainly one of the best examples available."
Of the 60 known T206 Wagner cards, the one that sold on Monday is only one of four whose condition has been rated at 3 or above by various grading groups, the report said.
It's not clear why only 60 of the cards were produced, according to ESPN, though it has been speculated Wagner may have put a stop to it himself, perhaps over a licensing dispute, or maybe because he didn't want to be associated with a tobacco brand for one reason or another.
The cards were made over the span of three years, from 1909-11.
Wagner, a native of Pennsylvania who died in 1955, was part of the inaugural class of inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, joining fellow legends Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson.
He played the bulk of his career with the Pirates, and later coached with them, after breaking in with the Louisville Colonels in the final years of the 19th Century. He hit .327/.391/.466 in his 21-year career, retiring at age 43, and his bronze bust now stands outside PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
The Wagner card has long been one of the most coveted, even setting a sale record at one of the first nationally organized major card conventions, in 1939, the report said.
"We're going back 80 years people knew it was valuable," Dwyer told ESPN.
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