Items from several long-time baseball card and memorabilia collections will be on the market for the first time beginning Tuesday when Hunt Auctions opens its Premier Live event. The catalog includes rare and popular vintage sports cards, photography, autographs, and game used items, headlined by the first installment of the “Texan Collection.” Curated over a 40 year period by … [Read more...]
Notes: Card Shop Owner Fights Off Armed Robber; Memorabilia Market Bullish; Francona’s Rings Recovered; Vintage Baseball Prints
One Eureka, Calif. sports card shop owner wasn’t about to part with his valuable inventory — or money — without a fight. It was a scary situation at Sports Cards and More. According to a news release from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department: On Dec. 17, 2019, at about 4:30 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a business on the 1600 block of … [Read more...]
Hassan Cobb Advertising Piece, Newly Uncovered Items Headline LOTG Auction
A rare and highly sought after portion of an elaborate advertising display piece used to promote the 1912 Hassan Triple Folder set has arrived on the auction block. Ty Cobb is featured on the front of the thick cardboard sign, which is the headliner in the newly launched Love Of The Game Auctions sale. The last known time a Hassan Cobb advertising display … [Read more...]
Ex-Broadcaster Ted Patterson’s Huge Collection Part of Love Of The Game Summer Auction
Ted Patterson had a long career as a sports broadcaster in Baltimore. But even more impressive is the treasure trove of memorabilia he has accumulated through the years. “I’ve got like a museum in my home,” Patterson told The Star-Democrat of Easton, Maryland, in 2001. He wasn’t kidding. Patterson’s four-bedroom home in Baltimore was filled with sports cards, … [Read more...]
Baseball and Brew: Rare 1889 Ad Poster Features Ewing, Anson
Just a couple of ballplayers sitting around enjoying a libation after a hard day on the diamond. It was a low-key marketing pitch from Guinness Brewery some 129 years ago but it’s also a very significant piece of sports marketing history; one that’s expected to bring a six-figure price in Heritage Auctions’ February Platinum Night sale. The 24x18” poster pictures 19th … [Read more...]
Newly Restored, 1910-Era Piedmont Baseball Ad Returns to Auction
It did its duty for 100 years, stuffed into the wall of an old cigar store in Michigan, providing a measure of insulation in the days before cellulose and fiberglass. Hidden away from view for over a century, a relic of the marriage of baseball and tobacco was uncovered a couple of years ago during the building's demolition. Sold as is at auction … [Read more...]
3rd Best 1959 Topps Set Brings Over $300,000 in Mile High Auction
One of the hobby’s top 1959 Topps baseball card sets is on its way to a new home—for a whopper of a price. Mile High Card Company sold the third ranked set on the PSA Registry for $301,907 in its catalog auction early Friday morning. Four cards in the 572-card issue are graded 10; eight, including Mickey Mantle rated 8 and the other 560 cards in the set are graded PSA … [Read more...]
Jim Bottomley Collection Among Mile High Headliners
He left school at age 16 to support his family and wound up winning two World Series titles on his way to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Now, 85 items from the life and times of Depression-era slugger Jim Bottomley are coming to auction. Bottomley Bounty Mile High Card Company will offer one of Bottomley’s 1926 World Series bats (graded PSA/DNA GU 10), his 1931 World Series ring … [Read more...]
Wisconsin Barn Yields Baseball Treasure
For the better part of 90 years it sat inside a Wisconsin barn. Through the era of Joe Jackson and Ty Cobb. From Ruth to Gehrig, past DiMaggio and Williams and onto the time of Mantle and Mays. From Pete Rose’s first hit to his last and through all of Nolan Ryan’s 5,714 strikeouts. Decades of dust accumulated. Edges frayed and once sharp corners disappeared. Seasons … [Read more...]
“Mona Lisa of Baseball Advertising Posters” to be Sold by REA
Before Boston Garter. Before Wheaties. Before Be Like Mike and Mars Blackmon and way before Bo Knows… there was George Wright for Red Stockings Cigars. Some 140 years ago, the first superstar of American sports agreed to promote a local brand of stogies and now the only known surviving display poster from the dawn of American sports endorsements is about to go on the open … [Read more...]