Antiques Roadshow $1M Baseball Cards: Most Valuable Baseball Collection Ever Seen

By: Mary Smith
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January 7, 2021

Antiques Roadshow reveals $1M in baseball cards on last Monday night’s episode, which is one of the most valuable archives ever seen on the series. A rare photographic collection of the Boston Red Stockings from 1871. Appraiser Leila Dunbar told the owner to insure the baseball cards, according to Denver Channel on Jan. 6.

“If you’re going to insure it, I would insure it for at least $1 million.”

The owner inherited the $1m worth of baseball cards. The Antiques Roadshow couldn’t believe how authentic the collection is, and it goes all the way back to the owner’s great-great-grandmother. She housed the Boston baseball team in her boardinghouse for a short time.

“Are you serious? Oh my!” said the collection’s owner.

Antiques Roadshow’s $1M of baseball cards were on display as the appraiser looked them over. Dunbar confirmed that most of the players came from the Cincinnati Red Stockings and were some of the first to get paid to play the sport, according to Journal News Media Group. These cards were the start of the league we know today.

Among those players were Harry and George Wright and sporting goods king Albert Spaulding. Talk about some famous people! And addition to the cards, the owner also inherited a letter in which all of the players wrote a short, personal message to her great-great-grandmother and signed.

The appraiser said the signatures on the letter accounted for a big chunk of that $1m baseball card price on the Antiques Roadshow.

Fans of the show on Twitter couldn’t believe how much the card collection ended up being worth. And even the appraiser seemed surprised, calling the archive one of the greatest she’s seen on the Antiques Roadshow. But the owner isn’t going to cash in on this grand slam of a collection anytime soon — she says she wants to keep it in the family.

As the Antiques Roadshow reveals $1M in baseball cards, it’s only going to be worth more in the future. Baseball cards are still popular today, but the old ones are a rare find, notes AOL. A true collector will hang onto them, giving them to future generations to enjoy.