A T206 Honus Wagner baseball card sold for $6.606 million -- which includes a 20% buyer's premium -- early Monday morning, shattering the record for highest-selling sports card of all time.
The previous record belonged to a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card that
sold for $5.2 million in January, a record later
matched by a 2003-04 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection LeBron James-autographed rookie jersey card in April.
The seller of the Wagner card is an "East Coast collector." Both seller and buyer prefer to remain anonymous.
"This Wagner stands out because of its condition," said Brian Dwyer, president of Robert Edward Auctions, which brokered the deal. "There's only about 60 of these that we can confirm through various population reports and available grading data. Of those 60, most are rated poor, authentic or good, at best. This card is one of the best examples out there, and it's certainly one of the best examples available."
This Wagner card received a grade of 3 from SGC (Sportscard Guaranty Corp.). According to population reports from the three biggest card-grading companies -- PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator), BGS (Beckett Grading Services) and SGC -- only four T206 Wagners have been graded higher than a 3, combined, all in private collections.