Wayne Gretzky is thought by many to have been hockey's greatest player of all time. Now, through a special video called The Autograph, Tim Hortons Restaurants chain is telling the story of how a young Gretzky was inspired by hockey great Tim Horton. Horton, of course, was not just a star player. He was the co-founder of the popular Tim Hortons coffee and donuts chain … [Read more...]
2020 Topps Tier One Baseball Release Details
About a month into the new MLB season, 2020 Topps Tier One will make its annual return. Autographs and relic cards are essentially the product. Each one-pack box will include two autographed cards and a relic card. There are 12 boxes to a case and each case is guaranteed to have one rare Tier One autograph. The project is scheduled to be available during the week of April … [Read more...]
Dan Imler Joins Heritage Auctions as Vice President of Sports Division
Dan Imler has joined Heritage Auctions as he will be helping to lead the company's Sports Collectibles division as the Vice President of Private Sales and Consignments. The move was announced by the company in a press release earlier today. Imler joins Heritage after most recently working with SCP Auctions, serving there as a vice president since 2000. Sports Collectors … [Read more...]
1950s Mother’s Cookies Cards Depicted West Coast’s “Major Leaguers”
In 1952 and 1953, west coast-based Mother's Cookies issued two sets of baseball cards as a spring and summer promotion for their products. Here's a closer look at these unique sets of minor league players. 1950s Mother's Cookies Basics While the brand may not have been familiar to most consumers east of the Rockies, Mother's Cookies issued bakery products from 1914 until … [Read more...]
Rare W553 Set is Full of Stars
Strip cards often are tagged with the undesirable label and can be inexpensive ways to collect early baseball stars. But not all strip cards are expensive or easy to find. One of the more elusive and expensive sets is the W553 release. Here's a closer look at this unique series that has been identified as a strip card set. W553 Basics The W553 set is not your typical strip … [Read more...]
19th Century Baseball Currency is Worth Big Bucks
As baseball grew in popularity in the 19th century, the types of collectibles offered for the sport grew as well. Collectors of early baseball cards know about tobacco cards and trade cards, but one of the more unique items found in the late 1800s was baseball currency. As we'll see in a bit, this wasn't actual currency to be used anywhere. But it was able to be used as money … [Read more...]
Rare Monarch Typewriters Postcards Set Featured Philadelphia Athletics
Postcards are often among the more inexpensive types of pre-war sports cards. Ones with generic subjects, especially, can often be purchased for $10 or even less, depending on condition. Other postcards featuring real players, however, are a different story. And in some cases, the postcards are not only expensive, but rare, as is the case with the Monarch Typewriters Postcards … [Read more...]
Revisiting the 1989 Topps #1 Draft Pick Cards
Topps tried something a little different in 1989 when they created cards for some No. 1 picks from the 1988 Major League Baseball Draft. It was something other sets (like Classic) would pick up on a little later in the 1990s. Today, we're used to seeing all kinds of "prospect cards" of players that are created within months of the draft. But it was a different idea at … [Read more...]
Ted Williams Finds His Way into Rare Vintage JCM 44 Japanese Card Set
Japanese baseball cards are often avoided by American collectors. They generally aren't printed in English, don't feature American players, and resources to learn more about them are often quite limited. That leads to decreased interest among those in the U.S. Still, Japanese cards do have quite a following of collectors in the states. And among the more interesting cards for … [Read more...]
1923 German Transfers Sets Features Ruth, Cobb, and More
Pre-war sets come in all shapes and sizes. Among the more unique issues are transfers sets and one of the more popular ones is called the 1923 German Transfers set. Transfers are often called stamps and that's for good reason. They basically look like stamps and often have perforated stamp-like edges to them. But they're a little different in that they have reverse print. … [Read more...]