Carl Horner Cabinets

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Baseball Rarities

Johnson and the rest of the individual Horners (except Wagner) were in the middle of the first session on Saturday. Johnson sold for $3,450 vs an estimate of $1,000 to $1,500. The Wagner was in the middle of the second day and sold for $23,000 - 10X the estimate of $2,000 to $3,000. The #1 lot in the sale was the photo used for Mantle's 1951 Bowman card. And yes, there were quite a few Horner cabinets included in lots where they were not even specifically listed.

I was the underbidder on the WaJo Horner. I actually thought I would get it, being prepared to go up to 3K. But when I saw that Bill Mastro was leaving his hand up for whatever it took to win the HOFers, I realized it wasn't going to be. I drove him up to my final bid, then bowed out. It turned out Bill was bidding for legendary collector Marshall Fogel on all the prominent Horners, and I first met Marshall when he came over and apologized for outbidding me on the Johnson. I said that if he was really sorry, he'd sell it to me, and we both laughed. Probably everything that sold in that auction would be regarded as a fantastic bargain today, none more so than the large team lots that turned out to be full of Conlons, Thompsons, Van Oeyens, etc. Of course that was 25 years ago, one of the great events in hobby history.