Antiques Roadshow guest floored by value of rare | TV Shows

An Antiques Roadshow guest was left stunned by the five-figure value of her great uncle’s rare and highly coveted baseball card that was found in attic rafters.

During a recent episode of the hit PBS show called Junk in the Trunk 14, the woman explained that the card belonged to her great-great uncle, a Polish immigrant farmer in Southeast Missouri who never married or ventured much out of Missouri, except for a trip to see the St. Louis Cardinals when he was young.

Around the late 1980s, early 1990s, the guest’s parents had been helping to clean up at an auction after his death when the card was discovered.

Her dad was up in the attic checking to make sure there was nothing else left behind when he saw a folded up paper sack stuck in the rafters of “this old, old bachelor farmhouse.”

Inside was a couple of exhibition cards, including the one the guest brought on Antiques Roadshow showing legendary baseball player Babe Ruth.

She added: “In fact, we only know of, say, about 30 of them that have been graded. I’m not a professional grader, but looking at the card and seeing just a little bit of wear on the edges, I would probably grade this about a five out of a ten.

“That’s the highest grade known for these Babe Ruth exhibition cards.”

The guest looked shocked and said: “Oh, that’s exciting.”

The expert continued to explain that on top of being rare and in rare condition, the guest’s baseball card is highly coveted now.

Dunbar said: “Which is very cool. Collectors really were not interested in these cards for a long time. They preferred the tobacco or baseball, but now they’ve become more popular over the last two to three years.”

The expert then dropped the value on the guest: “This card, in this condition, I would put an auction estimate of $6,000 to $8,000.”

The women looked stunned yet again and said: “Wow. Oh, my gosh. Good old Stanley would really love that.”