Top Sports Memorabilia Finds of 2007
SportsCollectorsDaily.com has released its list of some of the top sports memorabilia finds of 2007. From forgotten boxes of baseball cards, unopened for over 40 years, to an 1830s baseball document, fans would be amazed at what walked out of closets and into the hands of collectors willing to pay big money.
Evansville, IN, January 03, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Sports Collectors Daily has released its list of ten of the "Coolest Sports Memorabilia Finds" of 2007.
The web site covers the sports memorabilia industry, providing original content and links to stories appearing in the mainstream media, updated Monday through Friday.
2007 brought a treasure trove of items which entered the sports card and memorabilia hobby for the first time. They ranged from old game worn jerseys, gifted or sold long before any self-respecting adult actually collected them, to decades-old unopened boxes of baseball cards found at garage sales.
In no particular order, here’s a list of some of the hundreds of great discoveries that made headlines in the pages of Sports Collectors Daily during 2007.
Lou Gehrig “Boy Scout” baseball: Yes, there was once a time when Major League superstars would show up at local boy scout dinners. Lou Gehrig dropped by one such awards dinner in 1937 and signed a baseball for 15 year-old Donald Starks. The sweet spot signature ball was a keepsake for Starks, but he finally consigned it to Memory Lane Auctions, which sold it this summer. Not the most valuable ball ever, but the perfect symbol of another time.
Early Baseball Rules: The Olympic baseball club of Philadelphia was playing baseball seriously enough in 1839 to create their own “constitution”, a printed list of by-laws distributed to team members. After over three decades in hiding, the original document made its way to Robert Edward Auctions.
1964 Topps Stand Ups Box: Why do millions of people go to garage sales? Because…say it with me...”you never know what you might find”. One east coast resident knew he had something good when he found an old box of unopened packs at a dirt cheap rate. Some quick investigation revealed the contents to be 1964 Topps Stand-Ups. Flooded with offers once it hit eBay, the box was sold to a buyer for Mastro Auctions, which sold it in a catalog sale for $35,864.
Bobby Orr in the Closet: A gift from the ultra-popular Boston Bruins’ Hall of Famer to a young boy over thirty years ago finally came out of the closet and showed up to oohs and ahs at a Canadian sports memorabilia show. The owner decided to consign it to Classic Auctions of Montreal, which sold it for over $80,000 to a Quebec businessman.
High Grade Vintage Find: A family visit led one man to the collection of his wife’s late grandfather, a phenomenal horde of T-cards and Tin Tops from the early part of the century including never-before-seen pristine examples of the Joe Jackson and Jim Thorpe Colgan’s Chips discs. Split into lots, they were sold by Mastro Auctions.
Babe Ruth rookie cards x 2: An east coast family learned of the sale of a 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth, then realized they had one. When Rob Lifson of Robert Edward Auctions showed up to take a look, he found they also had a team photo card of the ’14 Orioles. The consigned pair brought over $252,000.
Cards in the kitchen: A woman remodeling her kitchen peeled back the baseboards and out popped some early 1950s Topps cards. No Mantle rookie but a few 1952 Topps saw the light of day for the first time in over 50 years. It won’t result in fabulous wealth but it goes to show there are still cards hidden in the strangest places.
Gehrig Jersey Saved from the Scissors: Major League teams are keenly aware of the collector value of their game worn jerseys now but back in the 1930s, they just wanted to get rid of them. The manager of a church softball team spent $9 each for a stack of them in the late 30s, hoping to outfit his team. The jersey once worn by Gehrig was saved in case patches were needed. Thankfully they weren’t; the team folded after one season and the jersey was preserved, sold in the fall by Lelands.
Black Sox baseball: Jake Mintz was a private investigator who worked the concourses and stands at Cleveland Indians games during the 1920s. He passed on a small collection of autographed baseballs to family members who consigned them to Huggins & Scott Auctions in 2007. One ball, signed by Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver not long after the Black Sox scandal, starred in a fall auction, bringing $69,000.
1st All Star Game Lineup Cards: Luckily, the family of NL manager Bill McKechnie had saved the lineup cards from the 1933 All Star game. They were consigned to Hunt Auctions’ sale just prior to this year’s game in San Francisco and sold for $138,000.
You can find more details on any of the items by searching the archives at Sports Collectors Daily's web site.
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The web site covers the sports memorabilia industry, providing original content and links to stories appearing in the mainstream media, updated Monday through Friday.
2007 brought a treasure trove of items which entered the sports card and memorabilia hobby for the first time. They ranged from old game worn jerseys, gifted or sold long before any self-respecting adult actually collected them, to decades-old unopened boxes of baseball cards found at garage sales.
In no particular order, here’s a list of some of the hundreds of great discoveries that made headlines in the pages of Sports Collectors Daily during 2007.
Lou Gehrig “Boy Scout” baseball: Yes, there was once a time when Major League superstars would show up at local boy scout dinners. Lou Gehrig dropped by one such awards dinner in 1937 and signed a baseball for 15 year-old Donald Starks. The sweet spot signature ball was a keepsake for Starks, but he finally consigned it to Memory Lane Auctions, which sold it this summer. Not the most valuable ball ever, but the perfect symbol of another time.
Early Baseball Rules: The Olympic baseball club of Philadelphia was playing baseball seriously enough in 1839 to create their own “constitution”, a printed list of by-laws distributed to team members. After over three decades in hiding, the original document made its way to Robert Edward Auctions.
1964 Topps Stand Ups Box: Why do millions of people go to garage sales? Because…say it with me...”you never know what you might find”. One east coast resident knew he had something good when he found an old box of unopened packs at a dirt cheap rate. Some quick investigation revealed the contents to be 1964 Topps Stand-Ups. Flooded with offers once it hit eBay, the box was sold to a buyer for Mastro Auctions, which sold it in a catalog sale for $35,864.
Bobby Orr in the Closet: A gift from the ultra-popular Boston Bruins’ Hall of Famer to a young boy over thirty years ago finally came out of the closet and showed up to oohs and ahs at a Canadian sports memorabilia show. The owner decided to consign it to Classic Auctions of Montreal, which sold it for over $80,000 to a Quebec businessman.
High Grade Vintage Find: A family visit led one man to the collection of his wife’s late grandfather, a phenomenal horde of T-cards and Tin Tops from the early part of the century including never-before-seen pristine examples of the Joe Jackson and Jim Thorpe Colgan’s Chips discs. Split into lots, they were sold by Mastro Auctions.
Babe Ruth rookie cards x 2: An east coast family learned of the sale of a 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth, then realized they had one. When Rob Lifson of Robert Edward Auctions showed up to take a look, he found they also had a team photo card of the ’14 Orioles. The consigned pair brought over $252,000.
Cards in the kitchen: A woman remodeling her kitchen peeled back the baseboards and out popped some early 1950s Topps cards. No Mantle rookie but a few 1952 Topps saw the light of day for the first time in over 50 years. It won’t result in fabulous wealth but it goes to show there are still cards hidden in the strangest places.
Gehrig Jersey Saved from the Scissors: Major League teams are keenly aware of the collector value of their game worn jerseys now but back in the 1930s, they just wanted to get rid of them. The manager of a church softball team spent $9 each for a stack of them in the late 30s, hoping to outfit his team. The jersey once worn by Gehrig was saved in case patches were needed. Thankfully they weren’t; the team folded after one season and the jersey was preserved, sold in the fall by Lelands.
Black Sox baseball: Jake Mintz was a private investigator who worked the concourses and stands at Cleveland Indians games during the 1920s. He passed on a small collection of autographed baseballs to family members who consigned them to Huggins & Scott Auctions in 2007. One ball, signed by Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver not long after the Black Sox scandal, starred in a fall auction, bringing $69,000.
1st All Star Game Lineup Cards: Luckily, the family of NL manager Bill McKechnie had saved the lineup cards from the 1933 All Star game. They were consigned to Hunt Auctions’ sale just prior to this year’s game in San Francisco and sold for $138,000.
You can find more details on any of the items by searching the archives at Sports Collectors Daily's web site.
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Sports Collectors Daily
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www.sportscollectorsdaily.com
Rich Mueller
812-867-0962
www.sportscollectorsdaily.com
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