140-Year-Old Baseball Card Collection Valued at $1 Million by Antiques Roadshow

As first reported in August, a unique collection of 19th-century baseball cards caused quite the stir at a New York City taping of Antiques Roadshow.

The archive, a 140-year-old stash of documents and cards depicting members of the Boston Red Stockings, was brought in and appraised at $1 million.

Such was the rarity of the cards that their discovery alone made news, but the public would have to wait until 2015 to see footage of the find.

For The Win’s Nick Schwartz spotted video of the appraisal, which aired Monday on PBS.

The owner sat by as antique expert Leila Dunbar walked her through some of the particulars of the archive, which had been passed down in her family from generation to generation. Dunbar read a letter written by Boston Red Stockings players to the owner's great-great grandmother, who operated a boarding house frequented by the team.

Depending on your interpretation of 19th-century dry humor, the team's letter is a playful "thank you" card or the earliest known 1-star Yelp! review.

"

I am not going up stairs to supper and feel awful hungry but do not expect much, poor meals here. Too hungry to say any more. --Henry Wright

 

Would that we were home again...my sentiments have been expressed in the above paragraphs. Big meals.

--A.G. Spalding

"

Big meals. Poor meals. Would recommend to enemies. Try the Pad Thai.

In any case, the note did much to validate the collection, which Dunbar eventually valued at $1 million. Even after learning the historical significance of the archive, the owner couldn’t quite fathom how a little stack of black and white photos could be worth so much money.

Here’s the right facial expression to make upon discovering you’ve inherited $1 million in sports memorabilia.

As for the future of the collection, the owner joked about storing it in a bank vault. This is not a bad idea, but I have another suggestion.

YouTube

Whatever you do with this vintage memorabilia, I only hope you treat it with a third of the respect I gave my Fleer Metal cards. No amount of insurance can cover such gems.

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