An Antiques Roadshow expert valued the old baseball card, which featured one of the greatest players of all time, at an astounding $8,000.
In an episode of Antiques Roadshow season 29, a woman brought a vintage baseball card belonging to her late great-great uncle.
According to the woman, he was a Polish immigrant farmer in Southeast Missouri who rarely left the state, except to attend a St. Louis Cardinals game.
The avid baseball fan saved some old cards over the years, and the woman’s parents came across some while helping to clean up his home after he died in the late 1980s.
Her father went up to the attic to make sure nothing was left behind and discovered a folded-up paper sack stuck in the rafter of the old farmhouse’s attic.
The bag contained a handful of exhibition cards, including a 1928 Babe Ruth exhibition card.
DOWN TO THE DETAILS
According to Leila Dunbar, a sports memorabilia expert, the rare card depicts Babe Ruth playing for the New York Yankees during his prime.
The Antiques Roadshow appraiser explained that the card was manufactured by the Exhibition Supply Company and sold for one cent at a penny arcade vending machine.
According to Dunbar, exhibition cards are significantly larger than tobacco cards and bubblegum cards, typically the size of a postcard.
Another distinguishing feature of exhibition cards was that they did not sell anything.
“Early baseball cards sold bubble gum or tobacco, but now you can buy a card on its own,” said the sports memorabilia expert.
Dunbar pointed out that exhibition cards were produced in much smaller quantities than other types of baseball cards, so there are very few of them left today, and only a handful have been graded.
“I am 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,” the appraiser told me.
“That is the highest grade known for these Babe Ruth exhibition cards.”
She explained that baseball exhibition cards had long been unpopular among collectors, who preferred tobacco or bubblegum cards.
However, Dunbar noted that exhibition cards have grown in popularity over the last two to three years.
Because of their growing popularity, she estimated that the woman’s card would sell at auction for between $6,000 and $8,000.
“Wow,” the woman exclaimed. Oh my gosh. “Good old Stanley would love that.”
Other Antiques Roadshow guests were pleasantly surprised to learn the true value of their items.
One woman discovered her father’s old baseball cards hidden in a cigar box; one “rookie card” made it worth $150,000.
Another person purchased an old “magic” prop and was surprised when an Antiques Roadshow expert stated that it was worth $80,000 due to a historic link.