From 19th century baseball cards to a Mike Trout game-used bat, there was plenty of variety in Mile High Card Company’s latest catalog auction. When the dust settled, hundreds of pieces of sports history had found new homes. Bidding stretched well into the early morning hours of Friday. Among the most popular items sold when the hammer finally fell: … [Read more...]
Rare King Kelly Cabinet Card; Newly Discovered 1961 Topps Game Cards Part of MHCC Auction
We’ll be under a full moon when Mile High Auction Company’s upcoming auction winds down next month. When it opens to bidders next week, collectors will be seeing some items that only come available once in a full moon. The catalog includes several pieces that have rarely come to auction and some that have never been sold before. Among the headliners: an … [Read more...]
Photo of the Day: Anson, Kelly and the 1882 Chicago White Stockings
The faces have faded just a bit in the 136 years since they sat for a photographer, but make no mistake. The image captured in a photo studio that year captured one of the best accumulations of talent in the early history of professional baseball. The 1882 Chicago White Stockings featured Mike “King” Kelly, who loved parties, alcohol and women almost as much as baseball and … [Read more...]
Mike Kelly is King of Nineteenth Century Baseball Cards
No film exists of professional baseball in the nineteenth century. Without moving pictures we are left with colorful, often embellished, words to describe the early greats of the game. In those early days in the league's formative years no player's exploits jump off the page more-so than Mike 'King' Kelly. While we can't hear him speak in his thick Irish brogue, we can … [Read more...]
1885 White Stockings Photo Among Auction Headliners
An original cabinet photograph featuring members of the National League pennant-winning Chicago White Stockings including Cap Anson, King Kelly, John Clarkson and Billy Sunday is among the top items in a large auction of vintage photographs set to close this weekend on eBay. The photo remains on its original mount. There is some expected wear along the mount, but … [Read more...]
10 Great 19th Century Tobacco Cards
Dating back to the 1800s, N-Cards (nineteenth century tobacco cards) remain popular with collectors more than 100 years after their creation. Here are ten standouts that are still not too difficult to find. There are surely more valuable cards but many of these remain within reach for today's collectors and offer a connection to some important names from baseball's distant … [Read more...]
19th Century Baseball Cards: 10 Great Players to Consider
Baseball cards didn't really gain mass popularity until the 1950s, but that doesn't mean cards weren't produced for any number of other greats. Just a few years ago, one of the world's oldest cards, thought to be a team shot of the 1865 Brooklyn Atlantics sold at auction for $92,000. There are many collectors who specialize in cards that date back a century or more and many of … [Read more...]
Pre-War Rarities Top Goodwin Auction
It was a case of "the older the better" early Saturday morning as Goodwin & Company's latest Masterpieces and Uncommon Common auction came to a close. Numerous cards dating back 100 years or more brought the biggest prices including a rare 19th century cabinet card and a possibly one-of-a-kind version of a 1910 Ty Cobb issue. At the top of the bidding for the St. … [Read more...]
Rich Klein’s Ramblings: Musings During the ‘Great’ Dallas Ice Storm
A few random notes while we are in the process of being "iced in" in Plano, TX. I swear if the weather we got late last week had happened while I was living in Northern New Jersey, we would have said, ‘well leave a few extra minutes to go to work and drive carefully’. Here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area (as discussed in my column on the weather beaten Awesome Card show last … [Read more...]
Collecting Baseball Autographs May Have Started Earlier Than We Thought
Collecting baseball player autographs has long been thought to be a 20th century creation. In fact, few signed baseballs exist that can be dated before the 1920's. Those that are dated from that period sometimes come under skepticism. However, that notion took a step backward in time on Tuesday, when Robert Edward Auctions revealed a couple of a old newspaper clippings … [Read more...]