20 members of a family in Ohio are thrilled Aunt Jean was a packrat. Among the many boxes uncovered in an attic in an old Defiance home was 700 century-old baseball cards worth about $3 million, at least in the opinion of one expert.
The manufacturer and the exact date of the cards is unclear, but the cards are members of the E98 series from around 1910, according to PSA. The authenticators had dealt with fewer than 700 E98s previously in all of their years of grading cards. Now one find has yielded more more than that total, including a PSA 10 Honus Wagner and 16 PSA 9 Ty Cobb’s.
“Every future find will ultimately be compared to this,” said Joe Orlando, president of Professional Sports Authenticator.
Karl Kissner has control of the cards now. He believes they belonged to his grandfather, Carl Hench, who ran a meat market in Defiance and could have gotten them as promotional items. The plan is for the cards to go to auction, with 20 cousins in the Hench family splitting the proceeds.
This undated photo provided by Heritage Auctions of Dallas, shows some of the more than 700 well-preserved 1910 baseball cards found in the attic of a house in Defiance, Ohio. The best of the bunch _ 37 cards _ are expected to bring a total of $500,000 when they are sold at auction in August during the National Sports Collectors Convention in Baltimore. (AP Photo/ Heritage Auctions)
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This undated photo provided by Heritage Auctions of Dallas, shows a 1910 E98 Ty Cobb baseball card found in the attic of a house in Defiance, Ohio with about 700 others. The best of the bunch _ 37 cards _ are expected to bring a total of $500,000 when they are sold at auction in August during the National Sports Collectors Convention in Baltimore. (AP Photo/ Heritage Auctions)
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