An Antiques Roadshow guest showed up with one of the oldest baseball card collections of the Boston Red Stockings team, which she got from her great-great-grandparents. Her great-great-grandfather put the cards on a board alongside handwritten notes from each player.
The cards had portraits of American baseball pioneers like Harry Wright and his brothers John and Albert Spalding, who started the culture of wearing catching gloves. The guest’s great-grandmother looked after the Boston Red Stockings in 1871, and they reportedly loved her hospitality.
‘Antiques Roadshow’ expert left stunned at value of guest’s baseball cards
Expert evaluator Leila Dunbar was astonished at the unusual and sentimental find, as the letters included contained heartfelt notes. From the players’ scribbles, the guest’s great-grandmother did the cooking and cleaning for them, and they enjoyed her meals.
Spalding’s signatures make the guest’s submission even more special, as he started a significant trend in baseball history and founded a sporting goods company. Leila explained that there are other baseball card collections out there, but the ones presented will sell for a higher price than any other.
‘Antique Roadshow’ guest refuses to sell her cards
The owner admitted that she would prefer to keep the cards in her family, hence she will not be selling. Leila proposed insurance to the guest, noting that it would fetch her no less than a million dollars if she agreed. The guest was left shocked on hearing the price, which Leila affirmed was fitting because it was the greatest collection she had ever seen.
Viewers of the Antique Roadshow were equally stunned, and some argued that $1 million was too low for such a legendary collection of history. “Having letters written by Harry Wright and Albert Spalding, the story of the woman who housed them, the provenance, and all those cards, $1M is actually way below what this would actually go for at an auction,” someone wrote.