Michigan Family Discovers Rarest Football Card Collection in History

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/michigan-family-discovers-rarest-football-card-collection-history-183541108.html ^ | Wed, Feb 22, 2012 | By Eric Pfeiffer

[nickcarraway]

A Michigan family was cleaning out an old farmhouse and accidentally stumbled across a long-sought after collection of football cards worth thousands of dollars and considered perhaps the rarest such collection in history. The set is highlighted by an "anonymous" card of former Harvard football player John Dunlop, which was first issued in 1894.

The Dunlop card alone is reportedly worth $10,000, according to Lou Brown, president of Legends Sports and Games. "If it was in the right condition, it could be worth up to $60,000," Brown told Yahoo! News in a phone interview.

"We get a lot of calls from a lot of people saying they've got something, and usually it's not what you expect," Brown tells local affiliate Fox11. But Brown says this set is something different entierly. "It's the 'Holy Grail' of football cards," he tells Fox11. The Dunlop card, created by the Mayo Tobocco Works of Richmond Virginia, is called "anonymous" because it did not actually feature Dunlop's name. The entire set is considered the rarest football set in history.

Brown tells Yahoo! News that the Dunlop card is being put up for sale by the Robert Edward Auctions this May. There are only 10 Dunlop cards known to still exist, with some valued as high as $18,000. The entire collection is the first ever to dedicated to football players. And since there was no NFL at the time, the set focused entirely on the nation's 35 best Ivy League college players, according to the site FootballCardShop.com. You can view some of the other rare cards from the collection here.

The family also discovered several rare boxing cards, first issued by the same tobacco company in 1890. "I was hoping there might be some baseball cards in there too," Brown, who has been trading cards professionally

[Hot Tabasco]

can’t remember the name of that flat, pink gum either

TOPPS came with a stick of bubble gum.....

[Carriage Hill]

Sounds like we both had veritable “gold mines”, once-upon-a-time, HT? Who knew?

[Carriage Hill]

Your Dad was a wise man, BG...

[cookcounty]

Somewhere in a Western Michigan landfill, there are 5 shoe boxes full of 1955-1962 baseball cards...many multiples of the greats. I got drafted, went off to the Army, so my mom cleaned house, assumed I was “too old” for such things, and pitched them out.

....$50K today, easily

[BRL]

Those cards are worth 50K because of lots of moms like yours.... haha

[longhorn too]

“Somewhere in a Western Michigan landfill, there are 5 shoe boxes full of 1955-1962 baseball cards...many multiples of the greats. I got drafted, went off to the Army, so my mom cleaned house, assumed I was “too old” for such things, and pitched them out.

....$50K today, easily”

Same thing happened to me when I went in the Navy in 1968, my mother threw them out. I kidded her up until she died about throwing my fortune away.

But if your cards were like mine, they were in poor shape from handling, rubber bands, and spokes of bicycles. Who new back then that the needed to be protected. There were no such things as card protectors and etc back in the 50’s.

Unless they are really rare they must be a gem mint graded 10 to get top dollar.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks cripplecreek.

Harvard football player John Dunlop, which was first issued in 1894.

Belongs in a museum.

Of course, the museum's mother will probably throw whole collection in the trash.