Photo: Getty Images
I find it more incredible each day that people get suckered into spending incredible amounts of money for a picture of an athlete printed on a card made of cardboard. But that's just me.
$6.6 million for the famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) Honus Wagner T206 baseball card? Don't tell me that you keep the baseball (or football, basketball, hockey, or whatever) cards you collected as a kid because they increase in worth over time. There is little chance that the Upper Deck Derek Jeter rookie card you have is going to be worth a damn, especially if the foil on the card is chipped in the slightest. And you never know if the huckster you come across is offering you fair value for the card to begin with.
As they (whoever they are) say, there's a sucker born every minute. But if you have the inclination, and the money, more power to you.
Having said all that, the $6.6 million eclipses the record just set this past January, as a collector paid $5.2 million for a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card (somewhere in his mind he believes he got a steal at that price). And in April, the $5.2 million mark was tied when a collector bought a LeBron James Upper Deck rookie card.
The buyer and seller of the Wagner T206 card remain anonymous.
So glad it's not an ego thing.
COVER PHOTO: Getty Images