The Collins Proof above is probably my favorite T206. This unique card walked into a card show in New York in the 1970’s. It was brought to the show by a relative of someone who worked directly with proof production for the T206 and T3 sets. No one knows why this pose didn’t make it into T206 production. The Portrait is an iconic pose, but this With Bat pose would have been a great complement to it.
The card speaks for itself, but the story of who has owned it over the years adds to its mystique. Rob Lifson, who went on to run Robert Edwards Auctions (REA) purchased it and sold it soon after to Bill Mastro at a different show. Mastro recognized that it was an unissued pose and jumped at the chance to buy it for $17. He told Lifson that it was unissued only after he had bought it. Realizing the significance of the card, Lifson decided to re-acquire it. He had to give Mastro $2,000 in trade, but he left the show with it. He then sold the proof to high profile collector Barry Halper for $2,500 when he got home.
In 1994, Halper consigned the Collins Proof to Lifson to sell in REA’s January Auction. The minimum bid was set at $50,000 and the lot received just one bid, selling for a post-juice $56,000. The new owner was none other than actor Charlie Sheen.
In 2000, Leland’s auctioned off the card, and it sold for $24,930. This time, it was purchased by Keith Olbermann, and it resides in his collection to this day. In 2011, Olbermann wrote the following in his MLB blog:
“I’d like to thank him (Charlie Sheen) belatedly for the T206 Collins Proof card, by the way.”
In the below issue of The Trader Speaks, the question of whether the Collins Proof was a more significant card that the T206 Honus Wagner was posed. Today most collectors would opt for the Wagner if given the choice, but there are a few who would prefer the Collins.
There’s no way to know for sure what the Collins Proof would sell for in today’s market, but it would not shock me at all if it sold for low-to-mid six figures.
I’d like to thank Keith Olbermann and t206resource.com and for the use his/their scanas well as info used from the article entitled “The Olbermann Proofs” and Rob Lifson for his summary of the history of the Collins Proof, which can be read on the Full Count Vintage Baseball Card Forum here.