Like the total eclipse of the sun that preceded the start of the auction by a few days, there are some items in Memory Lane’s upcoming catalog that you probably won’t see again for a long time.
The company’s Spring Premier Auction will feature breaks of legendary sets, rare cards dating back more than a century and some iconic pieces of baseball history.
Set to open Thursday, April 11, the auction will feature over 1,950 high-end lots.
The catalog leads off with a PSA 3 1903-04 W600 Sporting Life Christy Mathewson Type 3 Mount—the only example of its kind graded by PSA.
Other rare W600 cards follow, with a PSA 2 (MK) Cy Young, an SGC 2 Chief Bender and an SGC 1.5 Mordecai Brown.
Collectors of one of the toughest pre-War set will have a chance to do some serious damage to their want list with the breakup of a partial set of 1914 Cracker Jack cards. In all, 145 cards are being offered, including a PSA 5 Ty Cobb, PSA 4 Joe Jackson, PSA 3 Mathewson and a PSA 3 Honus Wagner.
One devoted collector has consigned the eighth best T206 set on PSA’s registry to Memory Lane, a total of 521 different cards. The set is missing only the Wagner, Eddie Plank and Doyle “NY Nat’l” variation to be considered a complete master set. A T206 Sherry “Magie” error will be among the cards available as well as over 70 Hall of Famers.
The 1911 D304 General Baking set has tested even the most avid collectors for years. The auction will include the breakup of a high-quality set that includes a scarce PSA 4 Ty Cobb.
Yet another aesthetically pleasing pre-War set break comes with the listing of 72 lots from the 1911 Turkey Red set including a PSA 5 Cobb.
The auction includes stacks of Ruth cards from early 1920s issues through the end of his record setting career. More Cobb and Honus Wagner cards include a PSA 4 1912 E300 Plow Boy Candy Cobb, a rare PSA 2 A.L. Publishing Co. Wagner postcard, a PSA 2 1910 E104-2 Nadja Wagner boasting his classic T206 Carl Horner image and a PSA 7 T206 red portrait Cobb. There’s a 1916 M101-4 Herpolsheimer’s Joe Jackson PSA 6 that stands as the highest graded example, T204 Ramly cards of Walter Johnson (PSA 5) and Eddie Plank (SGC 5) and a seldom seen SGC 2 1917 Rogers Hornsby Collins McCarthy rookie.
Post-War card collectors will find PSA 8 copies of the 1953 Topps Mickey Mantle and Jackie Robinson cards and high-grade rookie cards of Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, Pete Maravich, Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Julius Erving and Terry Bradshaw, among others.
Rare, graded unopened vintage baseball packs include 1953 and ’54 Topps (both graded PSA 5), and 1955 Bowman Baseball while a 1976 Topps Football cello box and 1979-80 Topps hockey box are also being offered.
The catalog isn’t short on memorabilia, with a 1934 Tour of Japan autographed baseball among the top items. The ball carries autographs from Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and other American luminaries who were part of the famous trip.
The 21st century answer to Ruth—Shohei Ohtani—is featured in the auction with a few key items including the only graded ticket stub from his professional debut with the Nippon Ham Fighters on March 29, 2013.
As usual with a Memory Lane auction, there are numerous lots of historic photos, including a George Grantham Bain image from 1920 when Ruth was still a relative newcomer to the New York Yankees.
The auction is set to run through Saturday, May 4 at memorylaneinc.com.
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