In what Heritage Auctions says may have been “one of the most significant trading card auctions in history,” some of the rarest baseball cards brought in millions of dollars.
The Dallas-based auction house’s highest-selling lots of September were dominated by the trading card hobby, with its top earner, an Eddie Plank card issued by Sweet Caporal, earning $690,000.
"The finest example of the greatest tobacco issue, (it) absolutely shifted the marketplace on its axis,” said Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions for Heritage.
Other baseball stars dotted Heritage’s highest-selling lots, including slugger and outfielder Ty Cobb and pitchers Cy Young and Christy Mathewson.
All of the high-earning cards came from baseball’s “Dead Ball Era,” a period around 1900 to 1919 that was marked with low-scoring games and few home runs. That makes cards featuring the era’s top performers more valuable collectibles, Heritage noted.
Click here to check out Heritage Auctions’ top-selling lots for September.
The auction house has seen several rare baseball cards hit the block over the past several months. In April, a rare Mickey Mantle card sold for $2.88 million. Two additional Mantle cards were purchased in July, but earned significantly less due to lower quality ratings.
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