Bids are pouring in for what appears to be an original Ty Cobb Tobacco tin, listed last week on eBay.
The seller’s listing states the Tobacco Tin (circa 1910) was discovered during a remodel of a home purchased in 2006. It was found behind a small hidden access door which was located in the back of their closet.
Cobb brand tobacco tins are extremely rare. with perhaps no more than 15 known to exist.
“A bidding war erupted from the moment it was listed,” said James Massey, publisher of What Sells Best, a site that monitors eBay sales. Numerous bids were made, driving the price from $1,000 to over $40,000 in just 2 hours. Bidding late Sunday evening stood at $40,800 with nearly six days still to go in the auction.
Legendary Auctions sold a Cobb tin last February. A lower grade example showed up on the TV show Auction Kings and that appears to be the moment when the seller says he realized the tin he owned was a match.
“I cleaned it off and sat it on my foyer table to display it for all to see as I thought it was really neat,” the seller writes in his description. “Six years passed and I saw the Ty Cobb tin on TV and it looked familiar. I walked over to the table and then realized I had the very same time in my possession. I am not a sports fan nor a collector of Tins so I had no clue what I had found. After doing some extensive research over the past 2 months I have decided to sell this Tin to someone that will enjoy it’s beauty and rarity from an era gone by.”
You can track the auction here.
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