One of the most sought after and valuable baseball cards is the 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner card. Produced between 1909-1911 by the American Tobacco Company as part of their famous T206 series, the Wagner has long been considered the “Mona Lisa” of sports cards due to its extreme rarity and iconic subject. Only around 60 copies are known to exist today in various states of quality. What makes the Wagner so rare is that the legendary Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop refused to allow his likeness to be used in endorsements, so the few hundred or so copies that made it into packs before being pulled hold incredible value, with PSA/BGS graded examples routinely selling for upwards of $2-6 million each.
Another tremendously scarce and valuable vintage baseball card is the 1913 E134 Nap Lajoie card produced by the Baltimore News tobacco company. Like the Wagner, only a small handful are believed extant, with the tattered survivors showing extensive wear. Experts have pointed to the fragile cardboard stock and lack of protective lacquer coating as factors in the Lajoie’s hyper-scarcity. Just one of these extremely fragile “ghost cards” sold for a record $1.5 million in 2016. The same can be said for other pre-WWI tobacco era cards like the rare 1910 M101 Old Mill tobacco George Mullin card – fewer than 10 high grade examples are known to exist.
For sports card investors who can’t afford the lofty prices demanded by the ultra-rare pre-war cards, there are many other highly coveted vintage baseball cards from the golden age of tobacco issues in the 1910s-30s that can still be obtained at five and six figure prices for top condition specimens. One of these is the more readily obtainable 1914 Caba Rojo set, especially the star rookie cards of Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. These bright Cuban tobacco cards showcase Ruth and Cobb at the outset of their legendary careers and can sell for $50,000-$150,000 depending on quality.
Other widely recognized premium vintage cards include the various “pose” cards that depicted players in action shots, especially the 1909-11 E90 and 1911-12 W515 series. The W515 includes one of the most stunning visual depictions of Speaker in his flawless batting stance that can sell for $100,000 and up. High graded examples of stars like Christy Matthewson and Walter Johnson from those sets are also highly coveted. The 1933 Goudey set introduced the first “modern” style ballplayer cards and more photographic approach that expanded card collecting. Rookie cards of future Hall of Famers like Jimmie Foxx and Mel Ott can sell for $30,000-$60,000 depending on condition.
Perhaps the single most iconic and widely collected vintage card is the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. As Mantle’s rookie season and Topps’ first modern color photo card set, the 1952 Topps cards exploded in popularity when collectors realized they documented the start of Mantle’s legendary career. High graded examples in a PSA/BGS 7 or above change hands for over $100,000 each. Another must-have for vintage collectors is the 1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig rookie card, one of the earliest and most visually striking cards of the Iron Horse. In pristine condition a 1933 Goudey Gehrig could bring nearly $1 million at auction.
Those are just some of the most coveted and recognized vintage baseball cards at the top of wish lists for experienced collectors. There are many other interesting chase cards to be found from the early decades before and after WWII. Stars of the Negro Leagues like Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell and Satchel Paige command top prices for their scarce pre-1950 cards, often in the $10,000-$30,000 range. Rookie cards for Hall of Fame pitchers like Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale and Juan Marichal from the 1950s can reach $5,000-$15,000 depending on the quality.
Rookie cards of sluggers like Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Cal Ripken Jr. and Chipper Jones from the late 1980s and 1990s are highly sought after by collectors born in that era. Even star rookie cards from the 2000s and 2010s can hold value for current collectors, like Bryce Harper, Mike Trout and Manny Machado cards in high grades fetching thousands. But perhaps none capture the nostalgia, pride of ownership and sheer speculation thrill of the vintage tobacco cards of the game’s earliest decades that forever changed the face of modern sports card collecting. For those willing to invest in the finest known copies, treasures like the Wagner, Lajoie, Gehrig and Mantle could prove to be worthwhile holdings as passions for the roots of card collecting only continue to grow.
