The 19th century baseball card discovered by a 72-year-old
California woman sold Tuesday night on the auction block for $75,285
(bidding ended at $64,073 with a 17.5 percent buyer’s premium).
Antique dealer Bernice Gallego’s 1869 Peck & Snyder Cincinnati Red Stockings advertising card was sold by Tustin, Calif.-based Memory Lane Inc. after a groundswell of publicity surrounding her story had her on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last month.
Because of Memory Lane’s 15-minute rule, the auction closed at 9:47
p.m. Eastern time after 96 bids instead of at 9 p.m. as previously
announced. (The bidding window is extended for previous bidders until
there are no bids placed for 15 minutes.) Four bids were placed after 9
p.m. gradually bumping the high bid from $60,073 up to its final price.
The buyer? TRISTAR Productions President and CEO Jeff Rosenberg.
"Bought it for my collection," Rosenberg said via e-mail. "However,
in the past we have given away items from the collection including T206
Wagner, Babe Ruth Rookie, etc. "
The starting bid? $10 — exactly what she had originally asked for the 140-year-old card on eBay last summer.
The final results for the PSA-authenticated card, which is
considered to be one of the first baseball cards ever made, can be seen
here.
To read more about Gallego’s reaction to the auction, see the Fresno Bee’s story by Mike Osegueda here.
Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since
1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.