WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.
An Antiques Roadshow guest brought in her husband’s ”iconic” childhood baseball cards which were given a top value.
The PBS daytime series welcomed a pensioner in Green Bay who had brought in a collection of baseball cards from the 1950s.
Expert Grant Zahajko joked: “It’s always a great story when mum doesn’t throw away my baseball cards.”
To which the guest replied: “She didn’t throw them away, which was unusual, because all of his friends that he grew up with, they either taped them to their walls or their mums threw them away.
“And for some reason, Maude didn’t throw them away. She put them in a grocery bag and we ended up putting them in our attic.”
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The guest went on to elaborate on just how lucky they were to still have the cards: “One weekend while my husband was gone, I decided I’d just look at them and as I’m sorting them, I’m like ‘Oh my gosh, he’s really got a nice collection.’
“And then the neat thing about it is, that a month after I did that, our home got hit by a tornado and everything in that attic disappeared, along with most of the house.”
“But you had rescued these cards about a month prior”, Zahajko replied.
“Just a month prior, so it’s like ‘Wow. Can you believe that happened?’
“So I got it all organised and then he couldn’t believe [it], he’d forgotten what he had.”
It was then Zahajko’s turn to comment on the cards individually, explaining how their value varies on how well kept they are.
To determine this, the cards were given a numerical grade from one to 10, with 10 meaning perfect condition.
The first of the cards he scrutinised was the 1952 Topps Jackie Robinson, stating: “In my opinion, it’s in the best condition of the three, I’m going to say a six.
“And as well as all of the cards here, it has wonderful colour, very little corner dings and surface is near in perfect condition.
“I would put an auction estimate on that one of $2,000 to $4,000.”
Moving onto the next, a Ted Williams, 1954 Wilson Franks premium card, he explained: “That one actually appears by the naked eye to look better than the others, with very sharp corners, but it does have a little bit of staining on the back and it has a little crease on the lower left that’s very hard to detect without magnification. So, that one, also at auction, $2,000 to $4,000.”
It then came to the third and final card which was a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card with Zahajko stating that even those with low grades are priced at a minimum of $5,000.
“But that’s a must-have for any collector of Mickey Mantle baseball cards. That’s the iconic Topps rookie card,” he said.
“On this one, very impressed with the surface. The colouring, very little, if any fading. Very little corner or touch wear.
“So this one, I assigned a numerical grade of five. We put an auction value on that one of $30,000 to $40,000.”
Taken aback, the guest replied: “You’re kidding! Seriously!”
Zahajko commented: “The numerical grades are so important to the collectors and on some of the high-end cards, that numerical grade, the difference of a five or six is tens of thousands of dollars.”
The pensioner then chirpily added: “Oh my God. He’s [my husband] going to be so happy with that.
“Oh thank you so much, that’s just wonderful. I can’t believe that!”
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on PBS.