A WOMAN recently discovered some old baseball cards hidden in her dad’s cigar box.
She knew they were likely rare, but didn’t understand how valuable they were until Antiques Roadshow explained their storied history.
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According to her, the cigar box was lying in her dad’s old house, hidden in the “back of a closet under a stack of sweaters,” per a recent episode of the acclaimed PBS Series.
Expert appraiser Simeon Lipman noted cigar boxes have been and continue to be a common place for Americans to store worthwhile items over the years, and her dad was no different in doing that.
Lipman immediately identified the baseball cards in the collection as part of the “1948 Leaf” card set, which was particularly uncommon.
After noting that her dad would’ve been around 12 or 13 that year, the appraiser applauded the woman’s father for how good of shape he managed to keep the cards in over the decades.
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“These look, as they say, pack fresh — great and beautiful color, and that’s what we love to see and what collectors love to see,” Lipman continued.
He also explained that the 1948 Leaf set was one of the first baseball card collections produced after World War 2.
Because of that, it held a considerable amount of “rookie cards” and regular cards featuring players who came back to the MLB after serving.
Some cards in the 1948 Leaf collection that the woman’s father obtained included Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, and John Wagner.
Wagner’s card was appraised at about $500 by Lipman.
It only got better from there for the Antiques Roadshow guest.
There were four of the same Williams card, evaluated at about $1,500 to $2,000 each.
An additional four of DiMaggio would sell for $2,500 to $3,000 each, as per Lipman’s appraisal.
For the rookie cards, there were four of the same for Stan Musial and six for Babe Ruth, also $3,000 each.
Then, Lipman pointed out the “most important” three rookie cards in the set, all belonging to baseball legend Jackie Robinson.
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“This is considered his rookie card, you have three of them, which is great, because these sell for between $15,000 and $20,000 each,” he explained.
The woman was blown away, and combined with the other stacks of rookie cards from lesser-known players in the 1948 Leaf set, Lipman noted that she should insure them for at least $150,000.
CASHING OUT
It certainly wouldn’t be the first time Antiques Roadshow came across a staggeringly valuable set of baseball cards.
Another woman who found an 1870s set in her great-great grandfather’s desk years ago.
Her great-great-grandmother had operated a boarding house in Boston at the time, which housed several Boston Red Stockings — now Red Sox — players.
At the time, they were some of the first to be paid to play the game.
“What you have here are some of the earliest known 1871 photographic baseball cards,” an appraiser told her.
“To see them all in a group like that…”
Ultimately, the entire set was worth $1 million.
Another lucky collector found a stack of baseball cards “piled” high from their grandfather, and one was worth $252,000.
A baseball fan also found a Paul Skenes MLB Debut Patch card that sold for $1.1 million earlier this month.
