A $3.599M T206 Honus Wagner and seven-figure Jordan and Hogan lots helped push the event to $38.6M, with multiple category records set.
By Intelligent Collector Staff | March 2, 2026
Heritage Auctions’ Winter Platinum Night Sports Auction delivered another top-end test of the sports memorabilia and trading card market, totaling $38,604,809, according to the company. The two-day event featured multiple seven-figure results and a long list of record prices across vintage baseball cards, modern basketball parallels, wrestling memorabilia, and photography.
The top lot was a 1909 T206 Sweet Caporal Honus Wagner known as “The Garagiola Wagner,” which realized $3,599,000. Heritage described the Sweet Caporal-backed example as SGC Authentic, with scrapbook evidence cited as part of its early preservation story. The company said the result set a record for any T206 Wagner with an Authentic grade and ranks as the fifth-highest price ever for a T206 Wagner. The press release also reiterates the card’s long-standing rarity narrative, noting an estimated total population of approximately 65 examples.
A second headline result arrived from modern basketball scarcity: a 1997 Ultra Michael Jordan Masterpiece (1 of 1) #23P, PSA NM-MT 8, sold for $2,104,500. Heritage positioned the card as the first one-of-one Jordan card ever produced and noted the auction marked the first time this specific example had been publicly offered. The release ties the card’s significance to the evolution of the one-of-one “chase” concept that became central to modern card collecting.
One of the event’s most notable memorabilia outcomes came from professional wrestling. Hulk Hogan’s match-worn and signed yellow boots from WrestleMania I realized $1,037,000, which Heritage said surpassed both its pre-auction estimate and the company’s previous wrestling-record result set the prior year. The boots were described as photo-matched to March 31, 1985, at Madison Square Garden, when Hogan teamed with Mr. T in the main event that launched WrestleMania into mainstream culture.
Beyond the top three, the auction included record-setting results across categories and decades. Heritage reported a 1915 Babe Ruth original rookie photograph by G.T. Murray Studios, PSA/DNA Type 1, realized $585,600, which the company called a record for any Ruth photo and the second-highest price ever paid for a sports photograph. The sale also featured prominent rings and awards from The Tom Seaver Collection, led by Seaver’s 1969 New York Mets World Championship ring at $854,122, and fine art crossing into sports history with LeRoy Neiman’s 1974 “The Rumble in the Jungle” painting selling for $366,000, described as the most paid for a Neiman in more than a decade.
Taken together, the results reflect where the market continues to concentrate historically symbolic “face of the hobby” cards, true one-of-one modern parallels with clear first-mover significance, and photo-matched or provenance-forward memorabilia tied to defining sports moments.
Source: Heritage Auctions press release (March 2, 2026).