We're putting this one on our list of the Coolest Finds of 2009--and even though there are still 11+ months to go, we're betting the 1869 Peck & Snyder card find might just be the winner when we put it together again next December.
It's got all the elements of a great "find" story--an old baseball card found sitting amid other bric-a-brac until someone discovers it. It's proof that there is still good stuff out there and I'm betting half of America was taking another look through the closet-- and the attic--and the basement, just in case, after reading the story. The Fresno Bee published it first. We linked to their online version. Then it hit Yahoo.com's front page on Thursday and now half the country knows about Bernice Gallego's Cincinnati Red Stockings card that could be worth a small fortune.
We've learned PSA has just graded this new rarity and that it's heading for auction soon. There is another copy of the 1869 Peck and Snyder listed on eBay that's probably benefitting from the talk about the new one. It's already generated 53 bids and stands at over $65,000 with nine days remaining, but there's no way to verify the validity of the bid.
Whatever the newly-found card sells for, it'll be a windfall considering it almost wound up being sold on eBay for a lot less than it'll get now that the cat is out of the bag.
Good for Bernice, who has apparently spent much of her life in the antique biz and has now hit the find of a lifetime--even if she didn't know what she had at first. That's part of what makes it a great story--the reason why this site was created and a much-needed jolt of positive publicity for the hobby.
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