T206 Wagner Sales History

[NiceDocter]

Story from the late 1970's...... all names withheld to protect the guilty AND innocent! Collector/dealer arranged to buy a T206 Wagner for $2000 and had a sale for the same card arranged for $2500. The seller showed up at the flea market where the dealer was set up (this was in Nashville, Tennessee) and the dealer was busy with another customer......so hold on.......the prospective buyer showed up and the two guys started talking...... the deal was done for $2250 and the dealer got ZIPP a DEE DO DAH! Like I always said, the cards and the money arent the best part of this hobby....ITS THE STORIES!! ps none of these people were me, I heard the story from the dealer later.......

[swarmee]

trdcrdkid's posts should have information, as well as the dubious Hauls of Shame website has a ton of features on the various histories of the Wagners.

[Rich Falvo]

This page from the Lemke-Wagner files mentions a sale in the early 60's for $100.

IMG_1044.jpg

[swarmee]

Interesting that the theoretical count back then in 1977 was between 12 and 60. We've found 50 or so by now, 40 years later. And I loved the line about it not finding a bidder at $100 for four consecutive months. Thanks for the article, Rich.

[bigfanNY]

In 1974 or early 75 there was a NY times ad offering a Wagner for $1500.00 my Dad called and was told that someone had already looked at it said it was in vg condition and passed on the card. Owner said others had said they were coming to look at card. My dad said he would buy the card but owner said first $1500 got the card. Owner called back 15 minutes later and said card was sold.
Jonathan

[TCMA]

My father bought and sold three different T206 Wagner cards between the years of 1972 and 1974, then again in 1984. I still have a hand written receipt for his second Wagner and a letter of provenance related to the third.

[irv]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

Not sure if this has been shared yet or not, but I read this a few days back....while no dollar amounts are shown, the chain of ownership for this particular copy is discussed


http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com...-scp-auctions/

Great story!

[charlietheexterminator]

It was late 1978 or early 1979, I was working for a fur dying & dressing company called Meisel & Peskin Fur Dressers, located in Brooklyn, NY, Union Local 122. It was my first adult job and I was the youngest guy working with a group of old-timers. This group of guys were straight out of a movie. They drank, gambled and talked sports all day. When things were slow we played poker all day. One day during poker we were talking about baseball cards and my Dispatcher, his name was Emil (Red) Weiss, an old-timer, said do I know about the Wagner card. I said sure do, that I have purchased many t206 cards from my local coin store for 25 cents each in the early 70's. Red then stood up, pulled out his wallet and slowly pulled out a Wagner. He told me his father owned a saloon back in the day and he would clean up at night and go through all the empty cigarette packs on the floor. This is how he came up with the Wagner. The first words out of my mouth were (do you want to sell it). He replied sure, for $500 it's yours. The Wagner had its share of creases even though it was protected in a thin plastic. I thought $500 was a bit too much, so the negotiation started. I was earning $200 a week take home and this was good money at that time but not enough to afford the Wagner. Red would not budge on his price, so I had to come up with the money. I wound up getting the $500 from a loan shark that worked with a different division of Meisel Peskin on the 2nd floor. Now I owned a Wagner. My girlfriend called me an idiot, but still married me in the summer of 79. Now it was late 1979 or early 1980 and I read in the daily news about an upcoming baseball card show in a Manhattan Hotel. The day of the show, I grabbed the Wagner and a buddy and headed to the show. I was thinking about selling it but had nothing to go by regarding price. When I arrived, I showed the card to the first dealer as we entered. It didn't take long, I had a crowd around me. The gentleman running the show ask if I would like to put it up for auction. I said sure as I needed the money with a child on the way. The final price was $2,200 or $2,250. I remember getting home and slapping the money down on the table and saying to my wife, (who's the idiot now). I talk about it all the time, she is tired of hearing it. A few members here know the story already. Oh well. It's Wagner #17 on t206Resourse.

[Pat R]

Originally Posted by charlietheexterminator

It was late 1978 or early 1979, I was working for a fur dying & dressing company called Meisel & Peskin Fur Dressers, located in Brooklyn, NY, Union Local 122. It was my first adult job and I was the youngest guy working with a group of old-timers. This group of guys were straight out of a movie. They drank, gambled and talked sports all day. When things were slow we played poker all day. One day during poker we were talking about baseball cards and my Dispatcher, his name was Emil (Red) Weiss, an old-timer, said do I know about the Wagner card. I said sure do, that I have purchased many t206 cards from my local coin store for 25 cents each in the early 70's. Red then stood up, pulled out his wallet and slowly pulled out a Wagner. He told me his father owned a saloon back in the day and he would clean up at night and go through all the empty cigarette packs on the floor. This is how he came up with the Wagner. The first words out of my mouth were (do you want to sell it). He replied sure, for $500 it's yours. The Wagner had its share of creases even though it was protected in a thin plastic. I thought $500 was a bit too much, so the negotiation started. I was earning $200 a week take home and this was good money at that time but not enough to afford the Wagner. Red would not budge on his price, so I had to come up with the money. I wound up getting the $500 from a loan shark that worked with a different division of Meisel Peskin on the 2nd floor. Now I owned a Wagner. My girlfriend called me an idiot, but still married me in the summer of 79. Now it was late 1979 or early 1980 and I read in the daily news about an upcoming baseball card show in a Manhattan Hotel. The day of the show, I grabbed the Wagner and a buddy and headed to the show. I was thinking about selling it but had nothing to go by regarding price. When I arrived, I showed the card to the first dealer as we entered. It didn't take long, I had a crowd around me. The gentleman running the show ask if I would like to put it up for auction. I said sure as I needed the money with a child on the way. The final price was $2,200 or $2,250. I remember getting home and slapping the money down on the table and saying to my wife, (who's the idiot now). I talk about it all the time, she is tired of hearing it. A few members here know the story already. Oh well. It's Wagner #17 on t206Resourse.

What a cool story Chuck. The last reported sale of that Wagner was a Lelands
Auction in December of 2003.
17.jpg

[jakeinge]

Originally Posted by charlietheexterminator

It was late 1978 or early 1979, I was working for a fur dying & dressing company called Meisel & Peskin Fur Dressers, located in Brooklyn, NY, Union Local 122. It was my first adult job and I was the youngest guy working with a group of old-timers. This group of guys were straight out of a movie. They drank, gambled and talked sports all day. When things were slow we played poker all day. One day during poker we were talking about baseball cards and my Dispatcher, his name was Emil (Red) Weiss, an old-timer, said do I know about the Wagner card. I said sure do, that I have purchased many t206 cards from my local coin store for 25 cents each in the early 70's. Red then stood up, pulled out his wallet and slowly pulled out a Wagner. He told me his father owned a saloon back in the day and he would clean up at night and go through all the empty cigarette packs on the floor. This is how he came up with the Wagner. The first words out of my mouth were (do you want to sell it). He replied sure, for $500 it's yours. The Wagner had its share of creases even though it was protected in a thin plastic. I thought $500 was a bit too much, so the negotiation started. I was earning $200 a week take home and this was good money at that time but not enough to afford the Wagner. Red would not budge on his price, so I had to come up with the money. I wound up getting the $500 from a loan shark that worked with a different division of Meisel Peskin on the 2nd floor. Now I owned a Wagner. My girlfriend called me an idiot, but still married me in the summer of 79. Now it was late 1979 or early 1980 and I read in the daily news about an upcoming baseball card show in a Manhattan Hotel. The day of the show, I grabbed the Wagner and a buddy and headed to the show. I was thinking about selling it but had nothing to go by regarding price. When I arrived, I showed the card to the first dealer as we entered. It didn't take long, I had a crowd around me. The gentleman running the show ask if I would like to put it up for auction. I said sure as I needed the money with a child on the way. The final price was $2,200 or $2,250. I remember getting home and slapping the money down on the table and saying to my wife, (who's the idiot now). I talk about it all the time, she is tired of hearing it. A few members here know the story already. Oh well. It's Wagner #17 on t206Resourse.

Holy Mother of God.....

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by swarmee

Interesting that the theoretical count back then in 1977 was between 12 and 60. We've found 50 or so by now, 40 years later. And I loved the line about it not finding a bidder at $100 for four consecutive months. Thanks for the article, Rich.

If Frank Nagy bought his Wagner from Preston Orem in the early 1960s, it might have been from one of the ads in Card Collectors' Bulletin through which Orem sold most of his collection. When I get home on Sunday (I'm on the road right now), I'll look through my CCBs from that period and see if I can find anything, though I don't have a complete run.