They weren’t hiding in someone’s attic but their emergence proves there are still plenty of great cards that have yet to be graded.
PSA recently received a submission of numerous W600 Sporting Life cabinet cards from the famous series produced in the first decade of the 1900s. Included in the valuable group were several Hall of Famers. Scarce in any condition, they newly encapsulated collection includes several that will rank as the best graded examples in existence, making them extremely valuable.
Company president Joe Orlando shared several images of the newly graded collection on Twitter.
Uncommon submission. A terrific group of W600 Sporting Life baseball cabinets just arrived, including this beauty featuring Honus Wagner: pic.twitter.com/8dOdvTEQg6
— Joe Orlando (@JoeOrlandoPSA) July 18, 2017
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The Wagner rates a full three grades higher than any of the others PSA has seen in 25 years. 
The cards are have been in the possession of a private collector for many years, according to Orlando, and may have originally been part of the Jim Copeland Collection. The seller hasn’t indicated whether he plans to keep or sell them.
PSA has rated just 54 Sporting Life Cabinet cards as 6 or better but the majority of those in the recent submission rank at or near that level—or higher—including Cy Young, Eddie Plank, Home Run Baker, Chief Bender, Clark Griffith and Addie Joss. There was a Ty Cobb which rated a 5.5—one of only four total Cobbs on the combined pop reports of PSA and SGC. The PSA 6 Young instantly shot to the top of the charts for highest graded copy in the hobby.
“This is an incredible grouping laden with highlights and it would generate extremely high interest if presented at auction,” Brian Dwyer of Robert Edward Auctions told us Thursday night. “The highlights we’ve seen push this collection easily past seven figures, with the Cobb at $300-500,000 alone in my estimation.”
W600 Hall of Famers rarely sell at auction, but last year, an SGC 50 (VG/EX) Wagner brought $56,554 and in 2011, a PSA 3 (VG) Cobb sold for $55,580.
Among the other cards in the collection:
Jake Beckley – Type 2 – PSA 6.5
Chief Bender (Uniform) – Type 4 – PSA 6.5
Mordecai Brown – type 4 – PSA 6mk
Jack Chesbro – Type 2 – PSA 4.5
Fred Clarke (Uniform) – Type 4 – PSA 6
Frank Chance (Uniform) – Type 1 – PSA 4mk
Eddie Collins – Type 4 – PSA 5mk
Sam Crawford – Type 2 – PSA 6
Ed Delehanty (Street) – Type 1 – PSA 6.5
Clark Griffith – Type 3 – PSA 6
Willie Keeler – Type 1 – PSA 4.5
Joe Kelley (Street) – Type 1 – PSA 6
Nap Lajoie (Uniform) – Type 4 – PSA 5mk
Connie Mack – Type 4 – PSA 5
Christy Mathewson (Uniform) – Type 4 – PSA 7mk
Joe McGinnity (Street) – Type 2 – PSA 5.5
John McGraw (Infielder) – Type 2 – PSA 5.5
Rube Waddell – Type 4 – PSA 4mk
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