A rare baseball card that was discovered at an antique sale was sold at auction on Wednesday, fetching $92,000 for the owner.
According to the Associated Press, the card was discovered at a rural Maine yard sale and depicted the Brooklyn Atlantics amateur baseball club 148 years ago. The card was sold by Saco River Auction Co. in Biddeford and received a number of bids, with bidder Jason LeBlanc of Newburyport, Mass., saying he bought the card as an investment for his young son.
The card opened up at $10,000 and had been previously expected to be sold for up to $100,000 or more.
"We're happy with it, and the consigner is happy with it," said Troy Thibodeau, manager and auctioneer at Saco River Auction.
The card was originally bought by a Maine man who wanted to remain anonymous through the auction process. According to the report, he bought the card at a yard sale in the small town of Baileyville on the Canadian border. He purchased a photo album, old Coca-Cola bottles and a couple of oak chairs together in a single purchase for less than $100, Thibodeau said.
The card looks very different from modern day baseball cards and shows off an original photograph of the team mounted on a card, depicting nine players and a manager. According to the Library of Congress, there are only two copies in existence.
The report says: "In its book "Baseball Americana," the Library of Congress calls the item the first dated baseball card, handed out to supporters and opposing teams in a gesture of bravado from the brash Brooklynites, who were dominant and won their league championships in 1861, 1864 and 1865."
Tom Bartsch, editor of Sports Collectors Digest, said $92,000 is a good price for a prewar card without a Hall of Famer's picture.
"There are very few artifacts around from the 1860s," he said. "Baseball was near its infancy in that time."
Cards have been sold for high prices over the years, including a 1909 Honus Wagner card, which sold for $2.8 million in 2007, the highest ever for a baseball card. The auction house said that the story of finding the card helped bring attention to the sale and showed how collectors can find things in unlikely places.
"It's what keeps those treasure hunters out there going," Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions for Heritage Auctions said.
The card was one of 425 items being sold at the auction. In the past, baseball cards have been sold for great amounts of money, including the 1909 Honus Wagner card. Last year, the same auction house sold a rare 1888 card of Hall of Fame baseball player Michael ''King'' Kelly for $72,000.
