Should The 1948 George Mikan PSA 10 RC be worth more than a T206 Honus Wagner?
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The T206 Honus Wagner card, first issued by the American Tobacco Company in 1909, is one of the oldest and most iconic cards in the entire world of collectibles. The image is instantly recognizable among hobby enthusiasts and to even see one in person is a rare treat that few of us ever get the chance to experience.
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The closest equivalent in basketball is the 1948 Bowman George Mikan rookie card (#69), and the only Gem Mint copy has been in hiding for over a decade. Assigning a value to a card this rare is difficult, but recent sales offer some useful clues. Let's dig in.
Who was George Mikan?
Mikan was professional basketball's first unstoppable big man. He started his professional basketball career in the NBL (National Basketball League) and played for the Chicago American Gears in 1946-47. He joined the Minneapolis Lakers in 1947 and played until 1954, retired for a year, returned for the 1956–57 season, and then retired for good.
He was a towering 6-foot-10 center who dominated both ends of the court. It's thanks to Mikan that the NCAA and NBA established the goaltending rule, since Mikan was known to swat the ball away on its downward trajectory.
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He was one of the most successful players in his era, winning 5 BAA/NBA Championships across a mere 7 seasons. He was also a four-time All-Star, three-time scoring champion, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, and is one of only four players to have been named to all of the NBA anniversary teams (25th, 35th, 50th, and 75th).
Fun Fact: Mikan was an above-average free throw shooter with a career 78.2% average, despite shooting the ball underhanded.
What would the PSA 10 Mikan sell for today?
Back in December 2015, the one and only PSA 10 1948 Bowman Mikan rookie card sold for $404K and it has not seen the auction block since. However, a PSA 9, which has a population of four, sold in August 2025 for $524.6K.
The most basic approach assumes the PSA 10 is four times more rare than the PSA 9, which puts the card’s value at roughly $2.1 million.
At $2.1 million, it would be in the top 20 of highest selling basketball cards of all time. It would be on par with the Upper Deck Exquisite LeBron James autograph rookie patch card serial numbered to 23 that sold for $2.1 million in 2022.
A second approach is to look at other legendary basketball centers with vintage rookie cards and extremely low populations for PSA 10s. Players like Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar work perfectly. It would have been nice to include Bill Russell, but there are no PSA 10 copies of his 1957 Topps rookie card.
If we look at the PSA 10 multiple compared to PSA 8s for those two legendary centers, we come to a multiple of roughly 20x for Chamberlain and an unknown for Abdul-Jabbar since sales at PSA 9 or above are too rare for a reliable comp. So that just leaves us with a 20x multiplier to work with, which makes this job pretty easy. When we look at the most recent sales of a Mikan PSA 8, which closed at $120K on November 22, 2025, and do the math, we hit $2.4 million.
The final approach is to benchmark the card against other elite basketball card sales. Given Mikan's impact and the rarity of the PSA 10, ask yourself where you think this card belongs among the basketball card elite. Top 5? Top 10?
If we say it belongs in the top 10, the lowest price for this PSA 10 Mikan would be $2.7 million, with two Michael Jordan cards tied for the 10th spot. If you think it belongs in the top five it would have to sell for $4.6 million or more.
Mikan's lasting impact on basketball
In addition to forcing the NCAA and NBA to create the goaltending violation, Mikan also led to changing the size of the key or paint, which is the rectangular painted area under the hoop. Back in Mikan's day, the paint was only six-feet wide. However, in 1951 the NBA decided to widen the box from six feet to twelve feet to prevent Big Mike and other elite centers from camping out and scoring too close to the basket.
Finding pictures of the key from the 1940s is challenging, but luckily the 1948 Bowman basketball card set has a few "Play" cards outlining plays coaches might run, like the "Single cut with return pass to post" card above. The card shows what the key used to look like before it was extended and also answers the question, "Why is it called the key?"
If you played basketball growing up, you may have learned the "Mikan drill" named after the legendary Laker. It's a basketball fundamental that helps players finish up close. A critical skill to build, since there's nothing more embarrassing than missing a bunny.
More art than science
At the end of the day, the 1948 Mikan rookie card is worth whatever someone will pay for it. Our methods price it between $2.1 and $4.6 million, but this could just as easily sell for $5 million or more. With last year's record-setting card sales coupled with vintage comics reaching record prices, demand for cards like this could exceed even the most optimistic estimates.
Conor is a life long sports card enthusiast who started collecting in the early ’90s, inspired by hometown heroes like Larry Bird, Paul Pierce, Tom Brady, and David Ortiz. Like many ’90s hoops fans, he also started building (and continues to build) a modest Michael Jordan collection.