Multi-million dollar sports card shatters record

A shot paper of Pittsburgh Pirates large Honus Wagner has sold for a record-shattering $US $AUD9 million.

The paper has been described arsenic the "Holy Grail" of sports memorabilia and attracted plentifulness of involvement among sports fans with heavy pockets.

Bidding started astatine $US1 cardinal rocketing to $US2.8 cardinal earlier it settled connected the last price, according to Robert Edward Auctions based successful New Jersey.

ESPN reports the terms of implicit $US6.6 cardinal surpassed the erstwhile grounds of $US5.2 cardinal for a sports card.

There are lone astir 50 cards of the legendary Pirates shortstop known to exist, among the acceptable of much than 500 cards released from 1909-1911 by the American Tobacco Co.

The crushed wherefore it's considered truthful uncommon is due to the fact that helium demanded the institution stopped utilizing his likeness to marketplace baccy to children.

And definite enough, connected the backmost of the $9 cardinal paper sold, determination is an advertisement for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes.

The card's origins tin beryllium traced backmost to sports memorabilia collector named Bill Mastro, who bought a Wagner and astir 2 twelve different T206 cards for $US25,000. Two years later, helium sold conscionable the Wagner to a paper collector for $US110,000.

The paper would proceed to beryllium sold and resold by salient auction houses until it was labelled the "most costly paper successful the world" aft Ken Kendrick, main proprietor and managing wide spouse of the Arizona Diamondbacks, purchased it for $ US2.8 cardinal successful 2007.

Wagner was 1 of 5 players inducted into the Hall of Fame successful its inaugural people of 1936 and played successful MLB for 21 seasons from 1897 to 1917.

He passed distant astatine the property of 81 successful 1955.