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Owner of rare baseball card unfazed about worth

Great article in the Arizona Republic today worth sharing!  Take a look.

Auction chief says it was altered
Arizona Diamondbacks' owner Ken Kendrick holds up his 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card, which he purchased in 2007 for $2.8 million.
 
Ken Kendrick, owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, says his 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card, one of the rarest pieces of sports memorabilia in the world, hasn’t lost its multimillion-dollar value despite an admission in court that the card had been altered before Kendrick’s 2007 purchase.

Former Illinois-based auction-house owner Bill Mastro admitted in federal court Tuesday in Chicago that he made cuts to the border of the card decades ago.

The alteration raises questions about the value of the card, although sports-memorabilia experts have long suspected it had been altered.

Kendrick, who purchased the card for $2.8 million, said he doesn’t believe its value will diminish, saying the card is an iconic part of the nation’s pastime.

Mastro was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2012 on one count of mail fraud. Federal officials said he and his business partners defrauded customers using bid-rigging practices and other tactics to increase the value of sports memorabilia.

Mastro had been attempting to strike a plea deal with federal prosecutors when he admitted altering the Wagner card, according to court papers.

“(I) am aware of this gentleman’s illegal activity,” Kendrick said. “I’m not concerned.”

Kendrick said he believes the card’s value will continue to climb, adding that he has been offered much more money than he paid for it, though he wouldn’t disclose the amounts.

Kendrick’s Honus Wagner card was manufactured with about 100 to 150 other Wagner cards in 1909 by the American Tobacco Co., expert say.

Kendrick’s card has passed through the hands of some celebrities, adding to its mystique. They include Wayne Gretzky and, according to Kendrick, actor John Candy.

Experts who spoke to The Republic disagreed over the alteration’s effect on the value of the card.
Jeff Thalblum, a prominent local dealer of sports memorabilia, said altering a baseball card destroys its value.

“That is the main no-no,” he said. “The card has been altered. If I was a buyer, and I knew that ... I would not be interested in that piece.”

Ken Goldin, founder of Goldin Auctions in New Jersey, disagreed. “It (the value) will not be impacted,” he said.

Goldin said baseball-card enthusiasts have known for a long time that the Wagner card was cut to conceal damage.

“For people in the hobby, this is old news,” he said.

Still, Goldin said, the value has continued to climb.

That’s due to a range of factors, including the rarity of the Wagner cards, which Goldin called “the Holy Grail of the hobby,” and the famous people who have owned Kendrick’s card.

“Honus Wagner was the greatest player at the turn of the century,” he said. “He was without question the greatest shortstop in the history of Major League Baseball.”

In 1909, the American Tobacco Co. put out a set of baseball cards that was groundbreaking, he said.
“They issued 524 cards of all the greatest players in the game, including Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Cy Young and, of course, Honus Wagner.”

However, Wagner, who did not authorize the company to put his face on a card, did not want to be associated with tobacco products.

“So, as a result, he contacted the company, (and) they withdrew the card from the marketplace,” Goldin said. “Maybe 100, maybe 150, got out of the factory.”

Today, only about 50 of the cards are known to exist, experts say.

“What happens is that this set turns out to be the single most popular set of trading cards of all time,” Goldin said. “Even today, it is the most collected set ever produced. So, you have these hundreds of thousands of collectors that are trying to complete a set of 524 cards, and they will never be able to because of the Honus Wagner card.”

But Goldin said that even among Wagner cards, Kendrick’s stands out. “His particular card is just so well-known. It has for many, many years been the face of the hobby.”

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Article source: The Arizona Republic

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