Inside the bag were seven Ty Cobb baseball cards that were from the printing period of 1909 to 1911. It’s not yet clear what the family who found them intends to do with them. “These claims are routinely overused”, said Rick Snyder, owner of MINT State, a PSA Authorized Dealer specializing in rare, high-grade sports cards, based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
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Joe Orlando, president of Professional Sports Authenticator, told The AP there were about 15 of the cards known to exist.
BEACH, CA A family’s life changed overnight when they found a treasure trove of baseball history in a crumpled-up old paper bag at their great-grandfather’s rundown house after he passed away recently.
On Tuesday evening, the “miraculous” discovery of seven extremely rare Ty Cobb baseball cards was reported.
On a scale from one to 10, with 10 being mint condition, the cards range from 3.5 to 4.5, which is high for cards that are more than a century old. Perhaps best known for its inclusion of the “Holy Grail” of sports card collecting, the iconic Honus Wagner, the T206 set contains 524 different cards with sixteen tobacco brand advertisement backs. Initially, the family thought the bag was merely filled with trash and planned to discard it. One of the family members made a decision to sift through the contents, which included a number of postcards and other paper products.
PSA received the seven Cobbs on February 26 and authenticated them later that day. The value of these cards is estimated at at least a $1 million.
Although many details about the lucky family are being held back for privacy, Orlando does reveal that they don’t know much about baseball cards, and only had a faint awareness that the name “Ty Cobb” seemed like a noteworthy one. “Due to the magnitude of the find I even had an outside expert come to our offices to examine the cards as well”.
‘This is one of the greatest discoveries in the history of our hobby, ‘ Orlando said.
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Cobb is a Hall-of-Famer who played primarily for the Detroit Tigers and is considered one of the game’s greatest players. But Orlando says the cards are worth “well into seven figures”.
