A MAN hit the garage sale jackpot after stumbling across an extremely rare baseball card.
Thanks to the photo on the card, the baseball memorabilia sold for a whopping $92,000.
While shopping at a yard sale in Maine, a man came across a valuable find – an 1865 card depicting the Brooklyn Atlantics baseball team.
He found it inside an old photo album, which he bought along with old Coca-Cola bottles and oak chairs, all for less than $100.00. Reuters.
The card is different from today’s baseball cards, which became popular in the 1880s.
It’s an original image of the Brooklyn Atlantics team – known as baseball’s first champion – pinned to a card.
Read more about valuable items
The 1865 photo depicts nine players and their coach.
“It’s more of a photograph than a baseball card, but it’s considered by many to be the first baseball card just for the fact that it was distributed by the team,” said Troy Thibodeau, manager of the auction company where the card was sold. .
“That kind of set the stage for baseball cards after that.”
The team distributed the photos to fans and even players on opposing teams because they were dominant at the time.
The card is the only one of its kind in existence.
However, the Library of Congress has a similar photo made from a different negative.
“It’s rarer than rare,” Thibodeau said.
RECORD SALE
The card owner sent the baseball card to the Saco River Auction Company after the company set a state record by selling an 1888 Michael “King” Kelly baseball card for $72,000.
Before the auction, Thibodeau estimated the winning bid for the Brooklyn Atlantics card would be between $50,000 and $500,000.
Predicting the sale price was difficult due to the rarity of the card.
Valuable baseball cards

Baseball cards are a highly collectible item and the most valuable ones have sold for millions:
- 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle: $12.6 million
- 1909-11 Honus Wagner T206 The Jumbo Wagner: $7.5 million
- 1914 Babe Ruth Baltimore News: $7.2 Million
- 2009 Mike Trout Bowman Chrome Draft Red Refractor Autograph /5: $5.5 million
- 1933 Babe Ruth Goudey #53: $4.2 million
- 951 Mickey Mantle Bowman RC: $3.2 million
Source: Money
“The key piece of this is not only the fact that it’s a baseball card, but it’s also a wonderful piece of American culture,” he said.
The card ended up selling for $92,000 to a Massachusetts financial advisor at the 2013 auction.
The anonymous buyer paid the cash amount after a brief round of bidding.
“We’re happy with it and the shipper is happy with it,” Thibodeau said.
In related news, a woman’s grandfather saved a family during the war and received jewelry – one piece of paper is worth $24,000.
Another woman picked up an old rug that her neighbor threw in the trash – she discovered the design was in high demand and sold it for $150,000.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story