JOHN NADEL, AP Sports Writer
AP Online
07-18-2000
Honus Wagner Card Sells for $1.265M
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Brian Seigel is the proud owner of a Honus Wagner baseball card that cost him a record $1.265 million, and he'd love to share it with fans and collectors around the country.
He's got some ideas along those lines, but right now, the 40-year-old Californian is just ecstatic to have what he called the Holy Grail, the Mona Lisa of baseball cards in his possession.
``It's a dream come true,'' Seigel said by telephone Tuesday, three days winning an on-line auction for the card depicting the Pittsburgh Pirates' Hall of Fame shortstop. ``There is no other card like this.''
Widely regarded as one of the rarest and most coveted among collectors, the card is the finest known specimen of about 50 Wagner cards known to exist from the 1909 set issued by the American Tobacco Company.
Seigel's identity was not made public Saturday when Robert Lifson, president of Robert Edward Auctions in Watchung, N.J., confirmed the sale price -- $1.1 million plus a 15 percent commission, highest ever paid for a baseball card.
``That was part of the fun of the whole thing,'' Seigel said of his decision to identify himself at a news conference at Anaheim Stadium. ``I don't want to go into hibernation, I want to promote the hobby. ...
``I wouldn't call anything a bargain for over $1 million. The fact is, this is the value of the card. It just sold at auction, everybody knew about it. The value of something is how much people are willing to pay for it.''
Bidding on the card on eBay began at $500,000 on July 5, and 13 bids were made. The card, won in an auction for $640,500 by Chicago-based collector Michael Gidwitz in 1996, broke its own record for a sports card.
``On a scale of 1 to 10, this one has been graded an 8,'' Seigel said. ``The next highest Honus Wagner card has been graded a 4. That sold late last year for $325,000. That's the second-most valuable card in the whole hobby. This is the best-known of a very rare card, it's in near mint-to-mint condition.''
A 1983 graduate of Cal State Fullerton, Seigel took $1,000 and started a company the following year that financed equipment for small businesses. It was a huge success, went public in 1995 and was sold to the American Express Co. last year for $61 million.
``I'm not Bill Gates or anything like that, but I'm comfortable,'' said Seigel, who identified himself as ``married with a daughter almost 14 as well as 3-year-old boy-girl twins and a baseball card.''
Seigel specifically collects early 20th century cards, including the T206 set of Wagner, Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson and Tris Speaker, among others.
``They come in different poses, there's about 75 Hall of Famers in that set and I have about 67, 68,'' Seigel said.
He said he began thinking about the Wagner card when it sold for $461,000 in 1991 to former hockey star Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall, then owner of the Los Angeles Kings. It was around that time that his business was really becoming successful.
``This is the Mona Lisa of our hobby, most people don't get to see it,'' Seigel said. ``What I'm thinking of, and this is just a thought, is to have a traveling company to tour big-league ballparks to put this card on display. If I took this to my safety deposit box, nobody would ever see it. I don't want that to happen, it's better for the hobby if people get to see it.
``This guy started playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates 100 years ago, in 1900. Wouldn't it be neat if people could go to Dodger Stadium and see the card? To me, that would be awesome. How's that going to work? I don't know. I could see the idea of distributing replicas for free at a game and allowing people to go to a booth, see the real thing. That's what I've been envisioning.''
The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press All Rights Reserved
AP Online
07-18-2000
Honus Wagner Card Sells for $1.265M
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Brian Seigel is the proud owner of a Honus Wagner baseball card that cost him a record $1.265 million, and he'd love to share it with fans and collectors around the country.
He's got some ideas along those lines, but right now, the 40-year-old Californian is just ecstatic to have what he called the Holy Grail, the Mona Lisa of baseball cards in his possession.
``It's a dream come true,'' Seigel said by telephone Tuesday, three days winning an on-line auction for the card depicting the Pittsburgh Pirates' Hall of Fame shortstop. ``There is no other card like this.''
Widely regarded as one of the rarest and most coveted among collectors, the card is the finest known specimen of about 50 Wagner cards known to exist from the 1909 set issued by the American Tobacco Company.
Seigel's identity was not made public Saturday when Robert Lifson, president of Robert Edward Auctions in Watchung, N.J., confirmed the sale price -- $1.1 million plus a 15 percent commission, highest ever paid for a baseball card.
``That was part of the fun of the whole thing,'' Seigel said of his decision to identify himself at a news conference at Anaheim Stadium. ``I don't want to go into hibernation, I want to promote the hobby. ...
``I wouldn't call anything a bargain for over $1 million. The fact is, this is the value of the card. It just sold at auction, everybody knew about it. The value of something is how much people are willing to pay for it.''
Bidding on the card on eBay began at $500,000 on July 5, and 13 bids were made. The card, won in an auction for $640,500 by Chicago-based collector Michael Gidwitz in 1996, broke its own record for a sports card.
``On a scale of 1 to 10, this one has been graded an 8,'' Seigel said. ``The next highest Honus Wagner card has been graded a 4. That sold late last year for $325,000. That's the second-most valuable card in the whole hobby. This is the best-known of a very rare card, it's in near mint-to-mint condition.''
A 1983 graduate of Cal State Fullerton, Seigel took $1,000 and started a company the following year that financed equipment for small businesses. It was a huge success, went public in 1995 and was sold to the American Express Co. last year for $61 million.
``I'm not Bill Gates or anything like that, but I'm comfortable,'' said Seigel, who identified himself as ``married with a daughter almost 14 as well as 3-year-old boy-girl twins and a baseball card.''
Seigel specifically collects early 20th century cards, including the T206 set of Wagner, Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson and Tris Speaker, among others.
``They come in different poses, there's about 75 Hall of Famers in that set and I have about 67, 68,'' Seigel said.
He said he began thinking about the Wagner card when it sold for $461,000 in 1991 to former hockey star Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall, then owner of the Los Angeles Kings. It was around that time that his business was really becoming successful.
``This is the Mona Lisa of our hobby, most people don't get to see it,'' Seigel said. ``What I'm thinking of, and this is just a thought, is to have a traveling company to tour big-league ballparks to put this card on display. If I took this to my safety deposit box, nobody would ever see it. I don't want that to happen, it's better for the hobby if people get to see it.
``This guy started playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates 100 years ago, in 1900. Wouldn't it be neat if people could go to Dodger Stadium and see the card? To me, that would be awesome. How's that going to work? I don't know. I could see the idea of distributing replicas for free at a game and allowing people to go to a booth, see the real thing. That's what I've been envisioning.''
The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press All Rights Reserved
