Clemente rookie card, 1900 Wagner team photo up for auction
Pittsburgh Pirate history buffs, get your wallets ready: a New Jersey auction house is taking bids on Roberto Clemente’s 1955 Topps rookie card, as well as a team photo of the Pirates taken during Honus Wagner’s first year with the team in 1900.
The auction concludes Sunday. Bidding on the Clemente card started at $100,000. The price had risen to $180,000 by Wednesday, though the reserve price still had not been met.
“When it comes to the Clemente card, there’s more of a defined collector base for something like that,” said Brian Dwyer, president of Robert Edward Auctions. “People are putting together sets, people have every Clemente card issued. So the market is a little more defined.”
Robert Edward officials said there is only one example of a higher-graded version of the card, out of more than 5,500 that have been graded by Professional Sports Authenticator, the world’s largest third-party sports card authentication service.
“This card is extraordinary in every way, with a flawless image, brilliant colors, outstanding centering (just a hint to the right) and four sharp corners,” the auction house’s description reads.
PSA’s “Mint 9” designation for the card is its second highest, just below “Gem-MT 10.”
“That card, in that condition, is extremely rare,” Dwyer said.
The Pirates team photograph featuring Wagner is even rarer, though it won’t demand a similar massive price tag.
“People seem to gravitate toward these Topps cards,” Dwyer said.
In addition to Wagner, a Carnegie native, the photo includes Jack Chesbro, Deacon Phillippe, Tommy Leach, Jess Tannehill and Sam Leever. It is credited to the “Pittsburg Photographic Co.” It is one of the earliest known images of Wagner, and features the Hall of Famer wearing his Pirates uniform for the first time, auction officials said.
The silver gelatin photograph is 9.75-by-7.5 inches and has a few tiny blemishes.
Bidding had eclipsed $6,000 by Wednesday.
“The beautiful thing about collecting and selling baseball cards and memorabilia like we do is that there are things suited to everyone’s taste,” Dwyer said. “We specialize predominantly in the pre-1970 part of the hobby.”
Where once items like this may have been bought from a card hobby shop, today those sales largely take place online.
“Card shops have certainly diminished in presence in the U.S., but since things have moved to digital, we still see a lot of interest,” Dwyer said.
For more on the card and photograph, or to place a bid, see Bid.RobertEdwardAuctions.com.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
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