What’s the most expensive sports card of all time?
On August 28, 2022, Heritage Auctions sold a Mickey Mantle card to an unknown buyer for $12.6 million dollars. The card in question, pictured above, was a 1952 Topps #311 and was graded MT 9.5 by SGC. Part of what makes it so valuable is of course its condition and grade, but the another huge factor is that only 2,372 of these cards were circulated.
In second place is a Hornus Wagner card issued in 1909 by the American Tobacco Company. The card was only graded an SGC 3, but sold for a whopping $6.606 million dollars in August of 2021. That’s because only 60 of these cards are known to exist. The story is that Wagner didn’t want his name associated with cigarettes and refused to allow additional copies to be printed after the first small batch. So if you or someone in your family was lucky enough to snag one of these extremely rare cards, you are among a very lucky few!
The most expensive basketball card ever sold is a Lebron James autographed rookie card. The card, a 2003 Upper Deck numbered out of 23, sold for $5.2 million in April 2021. It was graded as a 9 by Beckett Grading Services, with a perfect 10 signature.
Keep hunting and maybe you will come across one of these very valuable cards one day! You never know!