A WOMAN came into the possession of an antique baseball card stuffed away in the crevices of her great great uncle’s attic, which turned out to be worth a pretty penny.
The old baseball card, featuring one of the greatest players of all time, was valued at an astonishing $8,000 by an Antiques Roadshow expert.
In an episode on season 29 of Antiques Roadshow, a woman brought on a vintage baseball card that belonged to her late great-great uncle.
A Polish immigrant farmer in Southeast Missouri, he rarely left the state, according to the woman – except to take a trip to see the St. Louis Cardinals play.
The avid baseball fan held onto some old cards over the decades, and the woman’s parents stumbled upon some when they were helping to clean up his home following his death in the late 1980s.
Her father went up into the attic to ensure that nothing was left behind and spotted a folded-up paper sack stuck in the rafter of the old farmhouse’s attic.
Inside of the bag was a handful of exhibition cards, including a 1928 Babe Ruth exhibition card.
DOWN TO THE DETAILS
The rare card depicts Babe Ruth playing for the New York Yankees in the prime of his career, according to sports memorabilia expert Leila Dunbar.
The Antiques Roadshow appraiser explained that the card was made by the Exhibition Supply Company and sold in a penny arcade in a vending machine for just one cent.
Exhibition cards differ from tobacco cards and bubblegum cards in that they are much bigger, according to Dunbar, typically the size of a postcard.
Another distinguishing feature of exhibition cards is that they were not selling anything.
“Early baseball cards sold bubble gum or they sold tobacco – but this you could buy a card on its own,” said the sports memorabilia expert.
Dunbar noted that exhibition cards were made in much smaller quantities than the other types of baseball cards, so very few of them exist today and only a handful have been graded.
“I’m not a professional grader but looking at the card and seeing just a little bit of wear on the edges, I would probably grade this about a five out of ten,” said the appraiser.
“That’s the highest grade known for these Babe Ruth exhibition cards.”
She explained that collectors generally were not very interested in baseball exhibition cards for a long time, having a stronger preference for the tobacco or bubblegum cards.
Antiques Roadshow best finds
Antiques Roadshow has helped people put a price on their treasures since 1979. Here are some of the most interesting finds
A hand-me-down ring that had been in the family for generations was valued at $595,000 A silver coin found on a farm is worth $30,000 A Rolex that cost just $120 is now worth $45,000 The portrait of a woman’s mother at four years old and its frame was worth $32,000 A book of hymns that was kept in a basement was worth $50,000 A rare sculpture bought at a flea market in 1961 was worth $100,000 An antique floor lamp from an estate sale was worth $15,000 A mobile from the 1940s was worth a whopping $2 million A tablecloth drawn on by a baseball legend was worth $1,500 A Picasso plate that hung above an oven was worth $15,000However, Dunbar noted that the exhibition cards have become more popular over the last two to three years.
Thanks to their increasing popularity, she valued that the woman’s card, in its current condition, would sell at auction for roughly $6,000 to $8,000.
“Wow,” said the woman. “Oh my gosh. Good old Stanley would really love that.”
Other guests on Antiques Roadshow have been pleasantly surprised about the true value of their items.
One woman found her dad’s old baseball cards hidden in a cigar box – one “rookie card” made it worth $150,000.
Another person bought an old “magic” prop but were stunned when an Antiques Roadshow expert said a historic link made it worth $80,000.
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