Woman finds 139-year-old baseball card in box of antiques

[Bamcubz]

The strange story goes like this: Last summer, Bernice Gallego pulled an old baseball card from a box of antiques. She figured it might be worth something to someone, so she listed it on eBay.

The starting bid was $10.

But after getting a flurry of inquiries about whether the card was authentic or not, Gallego started to suspect she was holding something a little more valuable and immediately ended the auction.

Turns out her hunch was correct. She did have something more valuable. The card she found was made in 1869 and featured the "Red Stocking B.B. Club of Cincinnati," the sport's first professional team. It's considered one of the first baseball cards ever produced and its actual value could be worth more than $100,000 when she puts it back on eBay (with a higher starting price, of course).

Of course, the news that she had found a rare piece of early baseball history came as a shock to the 72-year-old Fresno, Calif., resident who said she's never been to a baseball game. Her tale, from unwitting discovery to learning about the card's history, is wonderfully captured by our old pal Mike Osegueda of the Fresno Bee.

From the Fresno Bee:

"When I came to meet her and she took it out of a sandwich Baggie and she was smoking a cigarette, I almost fainted," (collector Rick) Mirigian says.

"They've uncovered a piece of history that few people will ever be able to imagine or comprehend. And it comes out of Fresno," he says. "That card is history. It's like unearthing a Mona Lisa or a Picasso."

Gallego said she doesn't know exactly where the box of antiques came from since she and her husband are collectors and frequently buy lots from different estates around California. She does have a history of being lucky, though, having once won $250,000 on a slot machine.

(And with that, I'm off to see what I can find in my basement.)


http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big...urn=mlb,132871

[Hamana]

This story kind of reminds me of the movie "blast from the past" ... i wish i was so lucky.

[Madre]

Yay, 2,000th post!

[Sytrohs87]

Hey, 2000th baseball card!!! -_-

..really?
------
Ain't no get-rich-quick schemes ever fall into my lap like that.. the woman looks like she's getting ready to kick it anyway; I hope she gives the money away.

[Bamcubz]

Baseball granny cashes in big with sale of rare 1869 card

Remember Bernice Gallego? The lady who found an 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings card in her attic, put it up for sale on eBay with a starting price of $10 and then pulled it down after realizing it might be worth much more?

Turns out Gallego's hunch was right. After a three-week online auction, the Fresno resident sold what is believed to be one of history's first baseball cards for $64,073.

Not a bad paycheck for some spring cleaning.

The sale ended a whirlwind month for Gallego, who attracted an avalanche of attention on the front page of Yahoo!, the New York Times and other outlets across the country. Her popularity soared even further in late January, when she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and revealed that this wasn't her first instance of blind luck. She once won $250,000 from a slot machine in Nevada.

Gallego embraced all the attention and kept a wicked sense of humor throughout the process, as evidenced by her first public remarks after the auction ended on Tuesday.

[Orgoth]

Kinda makes being a "pack rat" look like a profession...

Interviewer: "So sir, what experience do you have with collecting junk?"

Interviewee: "Well if you'll just step out to my garage, I can show you most of my collection, then we can move to the basement, and finally the attic."

Interviewer: "Good golly, son you're hired welcome to "Pack Rat Inc.".