Chris writes:

An example of the iconic and rare T206 Honus Wagner baseball card is going to auction next month after being held by the same family for 116 years.

According to Goldin Auctions founder and CEO Ken Goldin, whose company is handling the sale, "this is the biggest discovery in the hobby in the past 50 years" because of how extraordinary it is for a publicly unaccounted T206 Wagner card to come to light.

The card was consigned by the Shields family, descendants of Morton Bernstein, who owned a silver manufacturing plant and started collecting trading cards in the early 1900s. Bernstein pulled the Wagner card from an original cigarette pack around that time. It was kept as part of a framed collection, passed down through the family and preserved by Bernstein's grandsons, Dennis and Douglas Shields.

"I've never been able to trace a Wagner that has stayed in only one family since the day the card came out," Goldin said. "The Shields' care and respect for their grandfather's collection - carefully looked after behind closed doors for 116 years - has preserved one of the hobby's true grails, and the importance of this cannot be overstated."

"It's a momentous day when Honus Wagner walks through the door as a century-old family heirloom; one that PSA graders dream about, and a first for my tenure," said Ryan Hoge, president of Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA). "We're honored to assess and preserve a card that encapsulates the rich history of collecting like no other."

The Shields' Wagner auction has a starting bid of $1 million and will open on Jan. 21. Some of the proceeds from the sale will be donated to Happy Trails for Kids, a nonprofit that provides transformative outdoor experiences for children in foster care, according to Goldin.

To read the complete article, see:
Newly graded T206 Honus Wagner card going to auction after 116 years with same family(https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6911059/2025/12/22/t206-honus-wagner-auction-goldin/)