As Major League Baseball goes about the process of making more history during this year’s playoffs, fans and collectors have the chance to recapture some of the sport’s past greatness with the new edition of Memory Lane’s I Own it Now catalog. The southern California-based auction company has pieced together more than 100 lots of high 
grade and rare sports cards and sports memorabilia for its unique sale, which offers the chance to buy an item at the listed price, or roll the dice and wait to see if lasts long enough for an offer.
The event opens today at 1 p.m. Eastern time and closes Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. Beginning at 1 p.m., October 17, buyers can make offers through Memory Lane on any unsold items still available.
There are plenty of cards and artifacts in the catalog that would qualify as a “headliner”, but whenever a T206 Honus Wagner card is available, it has to take center stage. Memory Lane is offering a PSA 2 (Good) example at a set price of $850,000. The hobby’s ‘holy grail’ card is considered by most to be the most important sports collectible in the world. 
Perhaps underrated considering its significance to the sport—and the hobby– is the 1916 M-101-4 Sporting News Babe Ruth rookie card. Featuring the Babe as a Red Sox pitcher, the card represents a key piece of baseball history. Memory Lane is offering a high quality PSA 6 example at an initial price of $100,000.
For post-War collectors, the holy grail moniker can best be applied to the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. High grade examples are exceptionally popular with collectors and investors. Memory Lane has a PSA 8 (NM/MT) ’52 Mantle in this catalog at $85,000. A companion to the Mantle is the 1952 Topps master set that’s being offered (minus Mantle). The set contains both the red and black back variations. The GPA 7.09 rated set is one of the hobby’s best and carries an I Own it Now price of $260,000. Pull the trigger or make an offer? It’s up to you.
The catalog also showcases several of vintage sets that are among the highest quality known. There is a 1932 U.S. Caramel set that ranks third on PSA’s Set Registry with a remarkable 8.0 GPA. It’s priced at $375,000. A 1915 Cracker Jack set of 176 cards that ranks fifth among its kind with an overall GPA of 7.50 is being offered at $330,000. High quality T205 Gold Border, 1933 Goudey baseball and Goudey Sport Kings sets are in the catalog as well.
Other vintage baseball card highlights include an 1869 Peck & Snyder Red Stockings trade card (Authentic), a 1909 E-90-1 Ty Cobb, graded PSA 7, a 1911 E94 Close Candy Cobb (PSA 7), a 1902 W600 Sporting Life Wagner (PSA 4) and a 1950-51 Toleteros Josh Gibson (PSA 4).
For football card collectors, the catalog offers a variety of Hall of Famers in high grade as well as a 1971 Topps set that holds down the #1 spot on the Set Registry with a GPA of 8.52, quite an achievement considering the colored borders propensity to show wear and the centering issues often associated with cards of the era.
Among the memorabilia settled into the just released catalog are a 1937 single-signed Lou Gehrig baseball, game-used bats from Ruth, Cobb, Roberto Clemente and Jim Bottomley, Billy Sims’ 1978 Heisman Trophy ring and for entertainment buffs, even a 1947 studio termination letter signed by Marilyn Monroe.
To receive a catalog, register for the sale or get more information, you can contact Memory Lane at (877)-606-5263 or visit their website (http://www.memorylaneinc.com).
Related Stories:
Hall’s ‘Holy Grail’ Cards Protected by Special Glass
Heritage Winter Platinum Tally: $12,985,912
PSA 1 T206 Wagner Coming to Auction This Summer
Numbers Game: Modern Cards Keep Crushing It
New Record Price for Poor Grade T206 Wagner Card, Other Items in Goldin Sale
Massive REA Sale Will Include Newly Uncovered Cobb Photo
1952 Topps Mantle PSA 9 Sells for $5.2 Million, Now Most Valuable Card Ever Sold
1914 Baltimore News Ruth Sold for Record Price; Will Hit Fractional Shares Market
