One of a long line of baseball card issues designed as a redemption offer, the Voskamp’s Coffee issue of 1913 featured 20 members of the Pittsburgh Pirates which, when completed, could be redeemed at the Pittsburgh-area grocer for one reserved grandstand seat at Forbes Field to see a Pirates game. Though Hall of Famer Max Carey is included in the set, Honus Wagner is unquestionably the key, its value approximately ten times that of any other card in the set.
The issue in general, and the Wagner in particular, are extraordinarily rare. In fact, just seven examples of the Wagner card have been graded by PSA and SGC combined, and in a testament to the condition sensitivity of the issue, two examples graded VG 40 by SGC – this and one other – are the highest-graded. While we readily acknolwedge the idea that more examples exist in ungraded form in advanced collections, we hesitate to suggest that somewhere there may be a finer example from a condition standpoint – just six examples of any card within the set have been graded EX or better by both grading companies combined. As is the case with many cards featured in this auction, a Voskamp’s Wagner is simply one of those cards that hobbyists will rarely see – if ever. This particular card last sold in 2009, for just north of $14,000. Only three other public sales of this card in any grade have occurred since, and none more recently than 2013.