1903 E107 Breisch-Williams Honus Wagner SGC POOR 10

Sold For:

$75,000

Year:

1903

Auction:

2025 Spring

Lot #:

6

Category:

Prewar Baseball Cards (1900-1941)

Extremely rare E107 Breisch-Williams card featuring Hall of Fame shortstop Honus Wagner of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Wagner is one of the most significant players in the entire E107 set, and, of course, one of the greatest legends of his era. Few prewar card sets compare in rarity or significance to E107 Breisch-Williams. Issued in 1903, these distinctive cards represent one of the few sets of baseball cards to be issued during the years between the popular photographic cards of the 1880s (such as Old Judge) and the many tobacco- and caramel-card issues of the 1910 era, for which E107s can also be credited with establishing the general design. The E107 is the first traditional trading card to feature Wagner's likeness as only the M101-1 Sporting News Supplements and the W600 Sporting Life Cabinets predate this issue. The rarity of the offered card cannot be overstated! This is only the third E107 Honus Wagner that we have handled in the past 21 years, and it is one of only eight examples ever to be graded and encapsulated by SGC (none by PSA). It is approximately ten times rarer than the famous T206 Wagner card, and many collectors could not even tell you what it looks like! Graded POOR 10 by SGC, this example displays heavy creasing and evidence of album removal on the reverse. This card features Wagner during an important period in his career, as the leader of the National League's most dominant club coming off of pennants in 1901 and 1902. Wagner would guide the team to its third consecutive title during 1903 with an impressive .355 batting average, the third-highest mark of his twenty-one-year Major League career. This is a card that would be a welcome and exciting addition to many types of collections, and at a more affordable level than the fortune this important card would sell for in higher grade (REA sold the highest-graded example for $348,000). This is an extremely pleasing example of one of Honus Wagner's rarest and most noteworthy cards from one of the most significant and elusive sets of the twentieth century.