1909
PICASSO
1
Spring 1909 Buste de Femme
2023 SOLD for $ 13.6M by Sotheby's
The achievement of the Demoiselles encouraged Picasso to explore new styles of painting. After Cézanne, he desires to promote expression and structure. Cubisme is not a style nor a school but a pioneering research, with its trials and errors.
The gouache enhances the contrasts of soft colors. A portrait of Fernande titled Buste de Femme is an example of the Cézannian fragmentation by Picasso in the early days of Cubisme.
Nevertheless the gray, ochre and green areas are not flat but made of patterns of streaks. Influenced by African masks, the facial lines are simplified without being distorted. The garment is in a similar style of blurred colors. The sitter is identified with her broad shoulders and topknot coiffure. Her frontal figure got rid of a perspective effect.
This gouache on paper 64 x 49 cm executed in the Spring of 1909 was sold for $ 13.6M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2023, lot 28.
The gouache enhances the contrasts of soft colors. A portrait of Fernande titled Buste de Femme is an example of the Cézannian fragmentation by Picasso in the early days of Cubisme.
Nevertheless the gray, ochre and green areas are not flat but made of patterns of streaks. Influenced by African masks, the facial lines are simplified without being distorted. The garment is in a similar style of blurred colors. The sitter is identified with her broad shoulders and topknot coiffure. Her frontal figure got rid of a perspective effect.
This gouache on paper 64 x 49 cm executed in the Spring of 1909 was sold for $ 13.6M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2023, lot 28.
2
Summer 1909 Femme Assise
2016 SOLD for £ 43M by Sotheby's
The painting of the Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907 masterfully demonstrates that anything is possible from the standpoint of the form. Through this single work, Picasso got rid the art of painting from realism, narrative, perspective and depth. The simplified drawing inspired by tribal art is unprecedented in European art.
The achievement of the Demoiselles encouraged Picasso to explore new styles of painting. After Cézanne, he desires to promote expression and structure. Cubism is not a style nor a school but a pioneering research, with its trials and errors.
In 1909 Pablo spends the summer with Fernande in a Catalan village named Horta, only accessible by mule track. During the same summer, Kandinsky gets himself isolated in Murnau with Gabriele. Independently of each other, these two artists become the theorists who are inventing the art of the twentieth century.
On June 21, 2016, Sotheby's sold for £ 43M a portrait of Fernande by Pablo, oil on canvas 81 x 65 cm conceived and painted in Horta, lot 8.
The fragmentation in blocks that gave its name to Cubism offers a similar processing for the three themes tested by Pablo in Horta: portrait, landscape and still life. The outlines of the subject are visible with a little effort leading to recognize the broad face of Fernande. The colors are subject to a similar mix : we are not in front of a portrait but of an image suggesting the features of a seated woman in the warm Catalan summer.
For several of its characteristics, Cubism is a dead end. In the following years, the trend to a dull monochrome increases the difficulty of interpreting the image without offering the puzzling breakthrough of abstraction. The loss of the three-dimensional effect generates the trials of collages which will not save the Cubism.
It does not matter, because every artist can now engage his own style in an original expressive quest. From Picasso, the modern art has become multifaceted.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
The achievement of the Demoiselles encouraged Picasso to explore new styles of painting. After Cézanne, he desires to promote expression and structure. Cubism is not a style nor a school but a pioneering research, with its trials and errors.
In 1909 Pablo spends the summer with Fernande in a Catalan village named Horta, only accessible by mule track. During the same summer, Kandinsky gets himself isolated in Murnau with Gabriele. Independently of each other, these two artists become the theorists who are inventing the art of the twentieth century.
On June 21, 2016, Sotheby's sold for £ 43M a portrait of Fernande by Pablo, oil on canvas 81 x 65 cm conceived and painted in Horta, lot 8.
The fragmentation in blocks that gave its name to Cubism offers a similar processing for the three themes tested by Pablo in Horta: portrait, landscape and still life. The outlines of the subject are visible with a little effort leading to recognize the broad face of Fernande. The colors are subject to a similar mix : we are not in front of a portrait but of an image suggesting the features of a seated woman in the warm Catalan summer.
For several of its characteristics, Cubism is a dead end. In the following years, the trend to a dull monochrome increases the difficulty of interpreting the image without offering the puzzling breakthrough of abstraction. The loss of the three-dimensional effect generates the trials of collages which will not save the Cubism.
It does not matter, because every artist can now engage his own style in an original expressive quest. From Picasso, the modern art has become multifaceted.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1909 Blue Mountain and Green House
2017 SOLD for £ 21M including premium
From his childhood Kandinsky was fascinated by colors. He settled in Munich in 1896 to integrate himself within the artistic avant-gardes that he will manage to regroup around him. From this first phase he is remarkably open to all the movements that escape classicism. The main themes of his personal art are the Bavarian landscapes and the rural legends of Russia.
After Cézanne and van Gogh he learns to shake the realism of the lines. After Gauguin, Matisse, the Fauvists and the post-Impressionists, he likes to exaggerate the colors and ceases to weaken them under a varnish. He follows his friend Jawlensky who was one of the first to systematically abandon the realism of colors. Attracted by mysticism, Kandinsky studies Goethe's theories on the psychological significance of colors.
Two summer stays at Murnau with Jawlensky and their companions Gabriele and Marianne are decisive for Kandinsky's career and for his role as a pioneer of modern art. In 1908 he experiments with new forms and new colors. In 1909 he revisits with blazing colors in thick layers his compositions of the previous year and prepares the theories of his new art.
Der blaue Berg is narrative. A group of riders travels in front of a mountain reduced to a triangular surface in an intense blue. Murnau - Studie zur Landschaft mit grünem Haus is an oil on board 33 x 45 cm painted in 1908.
Satisfied with the audacity of his study with the green house Kandinsky reuses the same composition in 1909 in a larger size with more saturated pure colors. Murnau - Landschaft mit grünem Haus, oil on board 70 x 96 cm, is estimated £ 15M for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 21, lot 47.
After Cézanne and van Gogh he learns to shake the realism of the lines. After Gauguin, Matisse, the Fauvists and the post-Impressionists, he likes to exaggerate the colors and ceases to weaken them under a varnish. He follows his friend Jawlensky who was one of the first to systematically abandon the realism of colors. Attracted by mysticism, Kandinsky studies Goethe's theories on the psychological significance of colors.
Two summer stays at Murnau with Jawlensky and their companions Gabriele and Marianne are decisive for Kandinsky's career and for his role as a pioneer of modern art. In 1908 he experiments with new forms and new colors. In 1909 he revisits with blazing colors in thick layers his compositions of the previous year and prepares the theories of his new art.
Der blaue Berg is narrative. A group of riders travels in front of a mountain reduced to a triangular surface in an intense blue. Murnau - Studie zur Landschaft mit grünem Haus is an oil on board 33 x 45 cm painted in 1908.
Satisfied with the audacity of his study with the green house Kandinsky reuses the same composition in 1909 in a larger size with more saturated pure colors. Murnau - Landschaft mit grünem Haus, oil on board 70 x 96 cm, is estimated £ 15M for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 21, lot 47.
1909 Modigliani will be a Painter
2013 SOLD 26 M$ including premium
Modigliani, installed at the Bateau Lavoir since 1906, is a sculptor, at once close to the avant-garde style of Brancusi. A prolific drawing artist, he produced many studies and sketches.
He also knows to be a painter, with a severe and uncompromising style inspired by Picasso in the following of the portrait of Gertrude Stein. His patron Paul Alexandre invited him in 1909 to paint the portrait of the young baronne de Hasse de Villers.
It is a real challenge for the young artist. Perfectionist, he is constantly reworking the line and the colors. Alcohol does not help his decisions. The Baroness is haughty and hurried, and no longer accepts the long sittings required by the young Italian immigrant.
The miracle of this painting is that it was completed. It seems that the Baroness did not recognize herself in this woman with dominant gaze and bony face in angles as sharp as a sculpture. Her horsewoman dressing and the hand firmly held on the hip are still strengthening the authoritarian attitude.
Paul Alexandre understood the power and modernism emanating from this strong image and kept this painting entitled L'Amazone in his collection for several years. This oil on canvas, 92 x 66 cm, is estimated $ 20M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 7. Here is the link to the catalog.
This is a very rare example of the beginning of the period when Modigliani considered to practise painting and sculpture altogether. Later obliged to choose for reason of poor health, he was to become the most gifted painter of his time.
POST SALE COMMENT
This portrait is important for understanding the early art of Modigliani. It was sold $ 26M including premium, in its range of estimates.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's :
He also knows to be a painter, with a severe and uncompromising style inspired by Picasso in the following of the portrait of Gertrude Stein. His patron Paul Alexandre invited him in 1909 to paint the portrait of the young baronne de Hasse de Villers.
It is a real challenge for the young artist. Perfectionist, he is constantly reworking the line and the colors. Alcohol does not help his decisions. The Baroness is haughty and hurried, and no longer accepts the long sittings required by the young Italian immigrant.
The miracle of this painting is that it was completed. It seems that the Baroness did not recognize herself in this woman with dominant gaze and bony face in angles as sharp as a sculpture. Her horsewoman dressing and the hand firmly held on the hip are still strengthening the authoritarian attitude.
Paul Alexandre understood the power and modernism emanating from this strong image and kept this painting entitled L'Amazone in his collection for several years. This oil on canvas, 92 x 66 cm, is estimated $ 20M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 7. Here is the link to the catalog.
This is a very rare example of the beginning of the period when Modigliani considered to practise painting and sculpture altogether. Later obliged to choose for reason of poor health, he was to become the most gifted painter of his time.
POST SALE COMMENT
This portrait is important for understanding the early art of Modigliani. It was sold $ 26M including premium, in its range of estimates.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's :
1909 The Prescient Improvisations of Wassily Kandinsky
2012 SOLD 23 M$ including premium
In 1909, Wassily Kandinsky spent several months in Murnau, Bavaria, together with Gabriele Münter. He worked intensively on the redefinition of art, preparing his theoretical book Uber das Geistige in der Kunst (On the Spiritual in Art).
Far from imagining that he will define the abstract art a few months later, he identifies three themes for his personal art: impressions, improvisations, compositions. He starts immediately by "improvisations", which fascinated him.
In the eight improvisations realized in Murnau in 1909, color dominates the whole work. Some riders and heroes are clearly visible, but the narration is minimized so that the colors get the top role to guide interpretation and emotion.
The notion of improvisation usually involves spontaneity. For this theorist of great complexity, this is no longer true: the pseudo-improvisations are preceded by studies in oil, as if to demonstrate that this art is the culmination of an inner process.
At this stage, by leaving much place for an interpretation by the observer, Kandinsky is a powerful predecessor of Miro. Later, at the time of abstraction, his art becomes too semantic, with a reading difficulty that can repel the public.
Studie für Improvisation 8, 98 x 70 cm, is estimated $ 20M, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 7. This painting is illustrated in the article shared by Artdaily.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The figurative works made by Kandinsky in Murnau constitute a rare example of a theoretician who actually managed to find new artistic paths. The importance of this study was confirmed: $ 23M including premium.
Far from imagining that he will define the abstract art a few months later, he identifies three themes for his personal art: impressions, improvisations, compositions. He starts immediately by "improvisations", which fascinated him.
In the eight improvisations realized in Murnau in 1909, color dominates the whole work. Some riders and heroes are clearly visible, but the narration is minimized so that the colors get the top role to guide interpretation and emotion.
The notion of improvisation usually involves spontaneity. For this theorist of great complexity, this is no longer true: the pseudo-improvisations are preceded by studies in oil, as if to demonstrate that this art is the culmination of an inner process.
At this stage, by leaving much place for an interpretation by the observer, Kandinsky is a powerful predecessor of Miro. Later, at the time of abstraction, his art becomes too semantic, with a reading difficulty that can repel the public.
Studie für Improvisation 8, 98 x 70 cm, is estimated $ 20M, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 7. This painting is illustrated in the article shared by Artdaily.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The figurative works made by Kandinsky in Murnau constitute a rare example of a theoretician who actually managed to find new artistic paths. The importance of this study was confirmed: $ 23M including premium.
1909 The Conquest of Kandinsky
2013 SOLD 13.5 M£ including premium
On June 18 in London, Christie's sells Studie zu Improvisation 3 by Kandinsky. This oil and gouache on cardboard, 45 x 65 cm, has already been a star at auction: it was sold for $ 17M including premium by Christie's on November 6, 2008. It is now estimated £ 12M.
In 2008, I was mostly interested in the comparison with the earlier landscapes painted by Kandinsky. I wrote:
"Kandinsky was a master of fauvist expressionism, did you know it? In 1909, he was pleased by the village of Murnau, south of Munich. He painted a view in strident colors. His research on forms and colors were already more important to him than the theme, and he titled his painting 'Studie zu Improvisation 3'. in the following year, he began to explore abstraction, with the success that we know."
This comment is not enough, of course, but it is not wrong. My mistake was to ignore the mystical rider who rushes to the fortress for an indecipherable reason. With this artwork, the landscape already does not matter any more to the artist, he is gone like a Don Quixote to conquer the mystical dimension of art. The fortress of the landscape is not in Murnau, it is already a product of the imagination of Kandinsky in his greatest year of creativity.
The key to the evolution of the art of Kandinsky in Murnau was given in the meantime by a painting of the same series and same year, Studie für Improvisation 8, sold for $ 23M including premium at Christie's on November 7, 2012.
The landscape and the horse are absent. The rider became a crusader in a urban context too stylized to be recognizable. The strength of his huge sword and the colors still more violent express the glory of the artist to lead the way to a new conception of art.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's introducing the Studie 3 for next sale.
POST SALE COMMENT
The previous sale had taken place at the beginning of the crisis in the art market. Sold for £ 13.5 million including premium, this Studie is now at its fair price, just below the Studie 8 sold last year.
In 2008, I was mostly interested in the comparison with the earlier landscapes painted by Kandinsky. I wrote:
"Kandinsky was a master of fauvist expressionism, did you know it? In 1909, he was pleased by the village of Murnau, south of Munich. He painted a view in strident colors. His research on forms and colors were already more important to him than the theme, and he titled his painting 'Studie zu Improvisation 3'. in the following year, he began to explore abstraction, with the success that we know."
This comment is not enough, of course, but it is not wrong. My mistake was to ignore the mystical rider who rushes to the fortress for an indecipherable reason. With this artwork, the landscape already does not matter any more to the artist, he is gone like a Don Quixote to conquer the mystical dimension of art. The fortress of the landscape is not in Murnau, it is already a product of the imagination of Kandinsky in his greatest year of creativity.
The key to the evolution of the art of Kandinsky in Murnau was given in the meantime by a painting of the same series and same year, Studie für Improvisation 8, sold for $ 23M including premium at Christie's on November 7, 2012.
The landscape and the horse are absent. The rider became a crusader in a urban context too stylized to be recognizable. The strength of his huge sword and the colors still more violent express the glory of the artist to lead the way to a new conception of art.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's introducing the Studie 3 for next sale.
POST SALE COMMENT
The previous sale had taken place at the beginning of the crisis in the art market. Sold for £ 13.5 million including premium, this Studie is now at its fair price, just below the Studie 8 sold last year.
1909 The Seer of the Beach
2014 SOLD 17.2 M$ including premium
In Murnau in 1909, Wassily Kandinsky develops his theories on artistic creation and illustrates them in a completely new pictorial language.
The theme of 'Improvisations' is well recorded. Some images show a seer of modern art in the assault on the fortress of classicism, although Kandinsky did not himself propose such a definition. His 'Impressions' are more difficult to categorize because the artist has not assigned this title to actual artworks.
However Strandszene (beach scene), oil on board 53 x 67 cm, retroactively appears as one of the best demonstrators of the artistic revolution brought by Kandinsky's Impressions.
This painting was executed at the end of 1909, not before a preparatory drawing dated August 3 in his sketchbook. As in Improvisations, vertical references disappear and colors are violent and even threatening. Some characters are shown but the narrative aspect is absent or impossible to decode.
The non localized beach is of course not Murnau which is a village in the Bavarian mountains. The long white robe of a character classifies it as an Orientalist painting. Tunisia was a favorite theme of Kandinsky when he was still a Fauvist landscape artist.
The great novelty of this composition is that it relies exclusively on a memory of impressions of the artist, without recourse of any previous work or to a photograph, thus excluding almost totally the reality of shapes.
Wassily probably painted it for display in a the house newly purchased in Murnau by his companion Gabriele Münter. He then kept it for nearly thirty years. Yet it is one of the earliest precursors of the release of the forms from any figurative or narrative intention that will lead to the concept of abstract art.
Strandszene is estimated $ 16M, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 6. I invite you to play the video shared by the auction house.
POST SALE COMMENT
Good result for this difficult Kandinsky painting which was from the best period: $ 17.2 million including premium.
The theme of 'Improvisations' is well recorded. Some images show a seer of modern art in the assault on the fortress of classicism, although Kandinsky did not himself propose such a definition. His 'Impressions' are more difficult to categorize because the artist has not assigned this title to actual artworks.
However Strandszene (beach scene), oil on board 53 x 67 cm, retroactively appears as one of the best demonstrators of the artistic revolution brought by Kandinsky's Impressions.
This painting was executed at the end of 1909, not before a preparatory drawing dated August 3 in his sketchbook. As in Improvisations, vertical references disappear and colors are violent and even threatening. Some characters are shown but the narrative aspect is absent or impossible to decode.
The non localized beach is of course not Murnau which is a village in the Bavarian mountains. The long white robe of a character classifies it as an Orientalist painting. Tunisia was a favorite theme of Kandinsky when he was still a Fauvist landscape artist.
The great novelty of this composition is that it relies exclusively on a memory of impressions of the artist, without recourse of any previous work or to a photograph, thus excluding almost totally the reality of shapes.
Wassily probably painted it for display in a the house newly purchased in Murnau by his companion Gabriele Münter. He then kept it for nearly thirty years. Yet it is one of the earliest precursors of the release of the forms from any figurative or narrative intention that will lead to the concept of abstract art.
Strandszene is estimated $ 16M, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 6. I invite you to play the video shared by the auction house.
POST SALE COMMENT
Good result for this difficult Kandinsky painting which was from the best period: $ 17.2 million including premium.
1909 Schloss Kammer am Attersee II by Klimt
1997 SOLD for £ 14.5M by Christie's
link to lot 198 (not illustrated)
1909 SCHIELE
1
Portrait des Malers Anton Peschka
2001 SOLD for £ 7.7M by Sotheby's
Anton Peschka and his younger fellow Egon Schiele were students at the Akademie des Bildenden Künste Wien. Nevertheless Schiele is a rebel. Leaving that ultra-conservative Academy at 19 year old in 1909, he endeavors to promote a new art by founding a Neukunstgruppe under the benevolent influence of Klimt.
Portrait des Malers Anton Peschka was executed by Schiele in that key year in oil and metal paint on a nearly square canvas 110 x 100 cm.
The style is decidedly expressionist. In a bold composition, the sitter is represented in profile in a large armchair. Neutral tones in gray and brown surround the sharpness of the head. The texture of the chair is made of small colored blocks, possibly in imitation of Klimt.
This very early artwork by Schiele was sold for £ 7.7M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2001, lot 19. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
In 1914 Peschka marries Schiele's beloved sister Gerti.
Portrait des Malers Anton Peschka was executed by Schiele in that key year in oil and metal paint on a nearly square canvas 110 x 100 cm.
The style is decidedly expressionist. In a bold composition, the sitter is represented in profile in a large armchair. Neutral tones in gray and brown surround the sharpness of the head. The texture of the chair is made of small colored blocks, possibly in imitation of Klimt.
This very early artwork by Schiele was sold for £ 7.7M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2001, lot 19. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
In 1914 Peschka marries Schiele's beloved sister Gerti.
2
Selbstbildnis mit gespreizten Fingern
2016 SOLD for £ 7.2M by Christie's
The Viennese Jugendstil deserves its name: Gustav Klimt endeavors to reveal and protect young skilled artists. Egon Schiele is passionate about drawing since childhood and begins to paint on canvas. During the summer of 1909 he exhibits four paintings at the International Kunstschau promoting Klimt's Secessionist movement. Aged 19, he is still a student.
The advances by Klimt in the artistic language are revolutionary and effective. Schiele is inspired by them but early seeks to express his own personality. A self-portrait 74 x 30 cm painted by Egon in late 1909 was sold for £ 4.5 million including premium by Christie's in London on 6 February 2007. It is now estimated £ 6M for sale in the same auction room on February 2, lot 31.
Working a portrait in a narrow vertical format is one of Klimt's innovations. Egon reuses this idea while limiting the figuration to the head in the top right and the hands at the lower end of the image, over a dark background.
The young artist is ambitious. The insertion of the head into a gold frame on two and a half sides is an adaptation from the gilded left and right edges of Klimt's Judith. The left edge of Egon's image is decorated with small variously colored rectangles that mark his temporary allegiance to the Wiener Werkstätte.
Schiele's personality is complex. He wants to be recognized and his lively gazes undertakes communication, but his face is heavily rouged. The fingers which are the tool of his growing fame are wide open in a hermetic symbolism that can be a proposal, an explanation or a mime.
The advances by Klimt in the artistic language are revolutionary and effective. Schiele is inspired by them but early seeks to express his own personality. A self-portrait 74 x 30 cm painted by Egon in late 1909 was sold for £ 4.5 million including premium by Christie's in London on 6 February 2007. It is now estimated £ 6M for sale in the same auction room on February 2, lot 31.
Working a portrait in a narrow vertical format is one of Klimt's innovations. Egon reuses this idea while limiting the figuration to the head in the top right and the hands at the lower end of the image, over a dark background.
The young artist is ambitious. The insertion of the head into a gold frame on two and a half sides is an adaptation from the gilded left and right edges of Klimt's Judith. The left edge of Egon's image is decorated with small variously colored rectangles that mark his temporary allegiance to the Wiener Werkstätte.
Schiele's personality is complex. He wants to be recognized and his lively gazes undertakes communication, but his face is heavily rouged. The fingers which are the tool of his growing fame are wide open in a hermetic symbolism that can be a proposal, an explanation or a mime.
#Selbstbildnis von #EgonSchiele und weitere namhafte #Künstler am 2. Feb. bei @ChristiesInc. https://t.co/rvA9iHZonE pic.twitter.com/4523IJGcOC
— Barnebys.de (@Barnebysde) January 19, 2016
1909 Nu au Bord de la Mer by Matisse
2009 SOLD for € 8.2M by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1909 T206 Wagner
2021 SOLD for $ 6.6M by Robert Edward
T206 is a classification code established in 1951 in a reference catalog. This series of 523 cards was published between 1909 and 1911 by the American Tobacco Company (ATC). The portraits of the players, most often from face or in slight profile, are printed in bright colors. The Major League is very well covered with 390 cards, the greatest champions like Ty Cobb having several varieties. The other positions are featuring players from minor leagues.
The advertising back identifies a brand of tobacco that can be Piedmont, Sweet Caporal or 14 other varieties of cigarettes and tobacco then offered by this company. The cards were inserted in the packs.
The views are not numbered but on the back the cumulative number of the announced subjects allows to establish a chronology of the impressions : 150 subjects then 350 and 460, then 'Large Assortment' for the last runs.
The Honus Wagner card was printed in the first year but the player rejected the proposal from a delegate of the ATC. He was probably not hostile to tobacco. The hypothesis that he would have expected for a better retribution is plausible. Wagner was one of the best baseball players of all time, whose prestige almost equaled Ty Cobb.
The T206 Wagner is only known with the advertising back variants for the two most common tobacco brands of the American Tobacco Company, Sweet Caporal and Piedmont, the former being known in two tobacco plant identifications, 25 and 30. All copies indicate the series at 150 subjects which is the original edition from 1909 before it was extended. The withdrawal of the Wagner card at the time the original release is obvious but not documented at that step.
A T206 Wagner with a Sweet Caporal Cigarettes back was sold for $ 1.23M on April 19, 2012 by Goodwin. It was illustrated in the pre sale release by Sports Collectors Daily. Graded VG 3 by SGC, it is one of the finest T206 Wagner in existence. Cumulating the SGC and PSA populations, there are seven Very Good cards plus four ranking higher.
It was sold for $ 6.6M on August 15, 2021 by Robert Edward, lot 1. It is illustrated in the pre sale release by Sports Collector Daily. Its SGC holder has been changed some time after the 2012 auction.
The advertising back identifies a brand of tobacco that can be Piedmont, Sweet Caporal or 14 other varieties of cigarettes and tobacco then offered by this company. The cards were inserted in the packs.
The views are not numbered but on the back the cumulative number of the announced subjects allows to establish a chronology of the impressions : 150 subjects then 350 and 460, then 'Large Assortment' for the last runs.
The Honus Wagner card was printed in the first year but the player rejected the proposal from a delegate of the ATC. He was probably not hostile to tobacco. The hypothesis that he would have expected for a better retribution is plausible. Wagner was one of the best baseball players of all time, whose prestige almost equaled Ty Cobb.
The T206 Wagner is only known with the advertising back variants for the two most common tobacco brands of the American Tobacco Company, Sweet Caporal and Piedmont, the former being known in two tobacco plant identifications, 25 and 30. All copies indicate the series at 150 subjects which is the original edition from 1909 before it was extended. The withdrawal of the Wagner card at the time the original release is obvious but not documented at that step.
A T206 Wagner with a Sweet Caporal Cigarettes back was sold for $ 1.23M on April 19, 2012 by Goodwin. It was illustrated in the pre sale release by Sports Collectors Daily. Graded VG 3 by SGC, it is one of the finest T206 Wagner in existence. Cumulating the SGC and PSA populations, there are seven Very Good cards plus four ranking higher.
It was sold for $ 6.6M on August 15, 2021 by Robert Edward, lot 1. It is illustrated in the pre sale release by Sports Collector Daily. Its SGC holder has been changed some time after the 2012 auction.
It's Wagner Wallpaper Wednesday and our Summer Auction is heating up! Bidding ends this Sunday August 15th! Head over to https://t.co/XI1djwlZVL@REAOnline #wallpaperwednesdays #honuswagnercard #t206cards #baseballcards #thehobby #Auction #tangibleassets #cardcollector pic.twitter.com/ww2qpKIydr
— RobertEdwardAuctions (@REAOnline) August 11, 2021
