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Thursday, January 08, 2009

Surprise Find: A 139-Year-Old Baseball Card

A “find” of a baseball card from the earliest days of professional baseball

Bernice Gallego sat down one day this summer, as she does pretty much every day, and began listing items on eBay.

She dug into a box and pulled out a baseball card. She stopped for a moment and admired the picture. “Red Stocking B.B. Club of Cincinnati,” the card said, under a sepia tone photo of 10 men with their socks pulled up to their knees. The card itself was dirty and wrinkled in a few places.

It was definitely old, Gallego thought. As a collector and seller, it’s her job to spot old items that might have value today, to find the gems among the junk.

It’s what Bernice, 72, and her husband Al Gallego, 80, have been doing since 1974 at Collectique, their antiques store in the Fresno, Calif., Tower District full of old jukeboxes, slot machines and records.

This card, she figured, was worth selling on eBay.

She did what she does with most items: Took a picture, wrote a description and put it up for auction. She put a $10 price tag on it, deciding against $15 because it would have cost her an extra 20 cents.

rdfc Posted: January 08, 2009 at 12:08 PM | 9 comment(s)
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   1. Hubie Brooks Posted: January 08, 2009 at 12:34 PM (#3046430)
Cool story.
   2. Guapo Posted: January 08, 2009 at 12:37 PM (#3046438)
Hopefully someone will have to wisdom to chop the card into 1000 tiny squares, and then market the squares as inserts in packs of the Topps 2009 Opening Day Update Vintage Stadium Upper Deck Gold Set. (7 cards for $4.89)
   3. Hack Wilson Posted: January 08, 2009 at 02:21 PM (#3046610)
I have a baseball card showing George Washington batting at Valley Forge. Think I can get $10 for it on E-bay?
   4. Obama Bomaye Posted: January 08, 2009 at 02:36 PM (#3046632)
Didn't we have this a week ago?

The comments and retorts were funnier, as I recall.
   5. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: January 08, 2009 at 02:44 PM (#3046646)
we did and they were
   6. Dewey, Local Boy and Hero Posted: January 08, 2009 at 02:46 PM (#3046652)
Brian Sabean is currently trying to hunt down the ten men on the card, so he can sign them to long-term contracts.
   7. Petunia Posted: January 08, 2009 at 03:16 PM (#3046722)
Didn't we have this a week ago?
Yep.

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/fresno_couple_are_the_unwitting_owners_of_rare_1869_baseball_card/
The comments and retorts were funnier, as I recall.
Thanks.
   8. Crispix Attacks Posted: January 08, 2009 at 03:20 PM (#3046732)
Brian Sabean is currently trying to hunt down the ten men on the card, so he can sign them to long-term contracts.

Jim Creighton just needs a few days on a major-league roster, then he can qualify for the pension.
   9. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: January 08, 2009 at 04:15 PM (#3046817)
It would've been much more surprising if she'd been attacked and torn to pieces by the secretly-vicious card.
Page 1 of 1 pages

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