Dan HajduckyFeb 22, 2026, 01:34 PM ET
- Dan Hajducky is a staff writer for ESPN. He has an MFA in creative writing from Fairfield University and played on the men's soccer teams at Fordham and Southern Connecticut State universities.
A recently discovered 1909 Sweet Caporal T206 Honus Wagner card, which had been pulled from a then newly released tobacco pack and kept in the same family for over a century, has been sold via Goldin Auctions for $5.124 million (including buyer's premium). It's the third-most expensive T206 Wagner behind the copy purchased for $6.606 million in August 2021 and the copy sold privately for $7.25 million in August 2022.
This Wagner received a 1 grade from Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA); the other two more expensive Wagners were graded by Sportscard Guaranty Corporation (SGC) and received grades of 3 and 2, respectively.
"We are honored that the Shields family chose us to represent this historic card that has been in their family for 116 years," said Ken Goldin, CEO and founder of Goldin in a statement.
This Wagner belonged to Douglas and Dennis Shields, whose grandfather Morton Bernstein, the son of the founder of The National Silver Company, collected and preserved trading cards in the early 1900s. After Bernstein purchased F.B. Rogers Silver Company in 1955 and expanded west, he framed his cards and decorated his businesses with them; when the National Silver Company folded, the cards were moved to a warehouse and eventually bequeathed to Dennis and Douglas.
Goldin announced the card in December, a discovery chronicled on Season 3 of Netflix's "King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch."
"Tonight, the Shields shared with me that they are thrilled with the sale -- and we hope the new owner treasures it as much as they did," Goldin continued. "The T206 Honus Wagner remains the Mona Lisa of sports cards."
The lore behind the T206 Wagner is one of sports cards' most revered, given the Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop asked the American Tobacco Company to pull it from production in 1909. Theories behind its scarcity range from a printing plate mishap to Wagner's (unlikely) purported disagreement over hawking tobacco to children, to Wagner being somewhat of an NIL pioneer and objecting to his likeness being utilized without proper compensation.
It's not the only Wagner currently in the news. An SGC Authentic (grade below a 1) currently sits at $2.318 million with six days left at Heritage Auction.
