If you have aBabe Ruthbaseball card or Bambino - autographed ball lying around in your Ionic , it might be deserving a pretty penny . AsAtlas Obscurareports , a rare Babe Ruth greenhorn card just sold for more than $ 130,000 — rough double the auction sale house ’s original estimation .
Ellen Kelly , a hospital receptionist who works in Keyser , West Virginia , observe more than 110 vintage baseball placard inside of an honest-to-goodness piano she had purchased from her house ’s estate sales agreement . “ good $ 25 I ever spend , ” she toldSports Collectors Daily .
The most valuable of the bunch was a Babe Ruth card that showed the instrumentalist during his cub time of year while hawk for the Boston Red Sox team . It was still in good condition , except for a pocket-size crease running down the center . The visiting card belongs to a readiness called “ M101 - 4 , ” which , concord to Atlas Obscura , “ ushered in a passage from the lithographic art of older card to contraband and white picture taking . ”
The piano in the beginning belong to to Kelly ’s aunt , and she believes her papa or uncle hide the poster inside the instrument to preclude them from being pitch out by her auntie . Though she uncovered the cards in the ' 90s while come the piano repaired , she did n’t have the Babe Ruth card appraised until recently .
“ unlike the great unwashed had offer to do it before for me , but it did n’t palpate right , ” Kelly enounce . “ Someone offered me $ 40,000 for the Babe Ruth posting and I thought , ‘ That ’s Babe Ruth , he ’s deserving more than that . ’ ”
The staff over atGoodwin & Co.—the auction home that ultimately sell the baseball placard — were just as surprised as Kelly to key out the rookie card ’s actual worth . “ We thought $ 60,000 to $ 75,000 was a fairish approximation for this card . We are thrilled to see a six - image net sales event price , ” Steve Bloedow , the Media Director of Auctions for Beckett , which oversees Goodwin ’s sale , toldSports Collectors Daily . “ The buyer has ask to stay on anonymous and we are respecting their request . ”
Kelly also clear about $ 4400 for the rest of the board — not speculative for a $ 25 investing .
[ h / tAtlas Obscura ]
