Wagner with Outstanding Provenance - not Providence - up for Auction:
 

http://www.wsbtv.com/sports/honus-wa...ions/521733642


Belated spelling correction completed.

Is that the same as provenance?

Providence is a college in Rhode Island. Marvin Barnes, Rick Pitino, Billy Donovan, et al. :)

I believe it's also the capital city of Rhode Island.

Does anyone else believe being able to trace the card back to its original owner turns a 400k card into one worth 1m?

Divine.

Just to Prove a Point from my Perspective high above my Protected keyboard Perch
 

Since when did the Provenance of Providence become so Provocative?

Brian

Even asking such a question is not within your province.

You guys are so provincial.

Is it within one’s province to claim divine providence as inspiration for a provocative improvisation regarding a card's provenance?


Steve

Thanks for the correction.

Thanks for the correction.

Thanks for the correction.

Thanks for the correction.

Thanks for the correction.

Thanks for the correction.

Thanks for the correction.

I realize that was a bit repetitive, but I wanted to be sure to thank each and every one who to the time to point out my laziness in not double-checking the dictionary...my Mom would have been so upset...thanks for filling in.

Not to hammer on you anymore than you already have, but the multiquote icon (to the right of the "quote" icon) works pretty good too. :D

I would have blamed spell check
 

As always .

Rhode Island aside, I can't imagine it would make much difference. I could see a really interesting store (i.e., the Nun's Wagner the Net54 member was selling a year or so ago) making an example slightly more desirable and leading to slightly increased bidding, but I just don't see connecting a card through past sales having the same impact.

Wow, I never knew what happened to this Wagner card, or who had purchased it, after Bill Haber died.

I could have been the third owner of this card - if I could have come up with $500! In the late 1960s-early 1970s, I had started collecting the T206 set, and was purchasing them for 35 cents each from Wirt Gammon, of Chattanooga, TN. I would send him $8.75 - or $17.50 if I really saved up - and Wirt would send me 25 (or 50) different cards. I would look through them, keep what I needed, and return the duplicates to him for credit. Over a few years, I probably got about 500 different cards - the vast majority of my set - from Wirt

In one of the shipments (he mailed them in the old metal Band-Aid boxes), Wirt sent a note saying since it looked like I was getting pretty close to completing the set, if I would be interested in purchasing his Honus Wagner card, he would sell it to me for $500. I was in college, and there was no way I could come up with that kind of money, so I passed.

So, Wirt was also selling cards to Bill Haber, of Brooklyn, NY, and Bill did come up with the $500, and purchased the card. I first met Bill in person in August 1971, when we both went to Cooperstown and were two of the founding members of SABR. Bill brought a notebook with him, in which he had mounted his T206 set, so I did get to see the card then - and again about five years later when I visited Bill at his home.

After Bill died in 1995, his collection was sold, and I never knew what had happened to that Wagner - until now! (and no, I still don't have one).

Great story Tom!

X2.

Thanks for sharing!

I'm pretty sure it's not the only one traceable to the original owner.

The one that was auctioned in CT in the late 90's was from an original collection. And it went through a few other auctions/dealers over the next 2-3 years. (And also went from P-F to VG without changing at all. )

Steve B