Goldin Auctions announced one of the most significant hobby discoveries in recent memory Monday morning: A previously unknown T206 Honus Wagner card.
The holy grail of baseball cards, only around 60 examples were known to exist of the world’s most famous and legendary card prior to this discovery.
Pulled from a 1909 Sweet Corporal Cigarette pack by Morton Bernstein, who owned a silver manufacturing plant and collected trading cards more than 100 years ago, the card was then passed down in the family, where it was kept by his grandsons, Dennis and Douglas Shields, until now.
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“I’ve never been able to trace a [Honus] Wagner that has stayed in only one family since the day the card came out,” Ken Goldin, founder and CEO of Goldin Auctions, said in a statement. “The Shields’ care and respect for their grandfather’s collection — carefully looked after behind closed doors for 116 years — has preserved one of the hobby’s true grails, and the importance of this cannot be overstated. To me, this is the biggest discovery in the hobby in the past 50 years.”
Goldin, himself, didn't believe it was real at first.
"I received a call. They claimed to have not only an authentic Wagner, but an extensive collection," Goldin told cllct. "And I said, 'You might have an extensive collection, but the Wagner's fake,' without seeing it."
"One hundred percent of the time, since the early 2000s when grading was popular, 100% of the time somebody sent me an ungraded picture of a Honus Wagner, it's fake," Goldin said.
But this was different.
The Shields brothers then sent Goldin a picture of the card, but it wasn't just a picture of the Wagner. It was a framed group of Pittsburgh Pirates cards.
"I zoomed into it and said, 'holy s---, that's good!'"
The discovery of the card and the Shields’ decision to trust it to Goldin Auctions for an upcoming sale is featured in Season 3 of Netflix’s “King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch.”
“My brother and I have held onto these for years,” Dennis Shields, grandson of Morton, said in a statement. “It isn’t for monetary issue; but it was the sentimental value that our grandfather held onto these things all his life, and we held onto them just because we love him.”
It was given a grade of PSA 1 earlier this year, a grade that should ensure it sells for millions when it crosses the auction block.
"It’s a momentous day when Honus Wagner walks through the door as a century-old family heirloom; one that PSA graders dream about, and a first for my tenure,” PSA president Ryan Hoge said in a statement. “We’re honored to assess and preserve a card that encapsulates the rich history of collecting like no other.”
The Wagner hit the PSA population report Monday, but has actually been graded for several months. In June, Goldin reached out to Hoge, saying he'd found a previously uncovered Wagner card.
"He goes, 'No', Goldin said of Hoge. '"I said it's real.' I texted him the picture, and I said here’s the deal. Nobody else can know about this."
Following that exchange, Goldin brought the frame in its entirety, with the Wagner inside, to PSA, where he met with Hoge and Reza Tabatabai, the head of grading at PSA.
Tabatabai noted its validity immediately, but Goldin stood steadfast in his demand.
"I said, 'Here's the thing, I can't get this graded yet. I don't want this to hit the pop report.'"
After that meeting, Goldin kept the card locked in a secure facility in California, before flying the card out to Rosemont, Illinois, in August for the National Sports Collectors Convention.
There, Goldin walked the card to PSA. Everyone cleared the grading room except for Hoge, Tabatabai and whoever slabbed the card. Goldin was not allowed in the room.
"Then they brought it out and I'm like, 'Crap, it didn't get a 2,'" Goldin said.
The card has now been graded for more than four months while being held off the population report.
"(PSA) understood the significance of this," Goldin said. "And they don't want to ruin the surprise."
The card is the fourth PSA 1 to be graded, and should easily defeat the current high for the grade of nearly $1.4 million set in 2020. The record for any T206 Wagner is $6.6 million.
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Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.