I originally published this piece on June 14, 2021, before taking the entire blog down and relaunching it in March 2024. After the recent discovery and sale of a T206 Honus Wagner card by Goldin a few months ago, I decided it was time to revisit this piece, clean it up, and republish it.
Goldin announced the card, the Shields Family Collection Wagner, in December 2025, a discovery chronicled on Season 3 of King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch on Netflix. It ultimately sold for $5,124,000 on February 21, 2026.
We may never really know how many exist, and that’s part of what makes it so fascinating. Anywho, here’s the original piece (with a few tweaks).
Wikipedia describes the T206 set as a tobacco card issue released from 1909 to 1911 in cigarette and loose tobacco packs through 16 different brands owned by the American Tobacco Company. Collectors refer to the set as “The Monster” due to its 524-card checklist. When you factor in the different advertising backs, completing a true master set becomes an enormous challenge.
The most famous (though not the rarest) card in the set is the Honus Wagner, largely due to its limited distribution and Wagner’s legacy as a Hall of Fame player, now it’s taken on a life of its own, transcending the hobby.
I was listening to The Monster Podcast, Episode 12 (an interview with Keith Olbermann) where several theories about the card’s rarity were explored. Some believe the printing plate broke early in production. Others suggest a copyright issue. The most widely accepted theory is that Wagner himself pulled the card, possibly objecting to promoting tobacco to children, but some say that theory’s been debunked, too.
Olbermann offered another angle: what if the Wagner was a mail-in giveaway? That could help explain why only an estimated 50 to 200 copies were ever distributed. Today, most estimates suggest fewer than 60 examples survive.
But back in 2021, a $3,660,000 sale of a “Fresh to the Hobby” Wagner (also by Goldin), combined with the podcast, pushed me to dig deeper into the card and led me to a bigger question: how many Wagners are still out there?
After some research, I came across the T206 Resource, which maintains a detailed Wagner gallery and sales history. The site tracks several known ungraded examples. Beyond that, both the New York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art hold ungraded Wagners in their collections.
I then ran a poll on Twitter, but quickly realized I framed the question incorrectly. It’s not just about ungraded Wagners; it’s about ungraded and unknown examples.
What makes me think more are still out there is the steady discovery of large raw T206 groupings, the Shields Family Collection example, of course, and the story of the John D. Wagner SGC 5 example.
Some might argue that with even lower-grade Wagners commanding seven figures, it makes no sense for any to remain ungraded. But that assumes every owner is operating with resale in mind.
If someone has owned a Wagner for 50+ years and has no intention of selling, why bother grading it? Authentication isn’t necessary for personal ownership, and even insurance can be handled without a slab. On top of that, PSA’s Premium Walk Through service for a Wagner runs well over $10,000. That’s a significant expense for someone not looking to monetize the card.
We continue to see raw examples of iconic cards like the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle emerge. And while the Mantle might be more recognizable to the general public, the principle remains the same. There are still long-held collections that haven’t been fully surfaced.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to believe that 10% of the surviving Wagner population remains tucked away in private hands. I’ve personally seen impressive raw collections from collectors who simply aren’t interested in third-party grading or the attention that comes with it.
My gut says there are still five or six T206 Wagners waiting to be discovered, likely to surface gradually as collections are passed down through generations.
How many unknown to the hobby examples do you think are still out there?
Happy collecting!
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