1908-1909 Detroit Tigers Baseball Postcard Sets
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GUEST:
I went to a yard sale. I saw that there was one box, it was-- I can't remember. I think it was under ten dollars and I bought it. And in the bottom of the box were these postcards.
APPRAISER:
That's right, they're postcards. They're from one of the great teams of the early 20th century, the Detroit Tigers. We've got two sets of postcards here. One is from 1908. It's the A.C. Dietsche postcard set. And what makes this set very, very special is it has one of the very earliest cards of Ty Cobb, the great Ty Cobb, and this is it right here.
GUEST:
Of course, yeah.
APPRAISER:
You then also have the 1909 Topping and Company set, another postcard set from the next season, and that's this one with the star, the yellow and black. Again, very vibrant set. And this, of course, also has a very, very early Ty Cobb card. You also have other Hall-of-Famers in this set. You have Sam Crawford. He appears in both sets. And you also have Hughie Jennings, who also appears in both sets.
GUEST:
He was a coach, right?
APPRAISER:
He was a coach. He was a player in the 1890s. What makes these very special is that they're extremely, extremely scarce. In 1907, the same company that made this set, Dietsche, also produced a set. It's a little more common. The 1908 set is very, very uncommon. And that's what you have here. 1909 Topping and Company, again, very, very scarce cards. Very, very early Ty Cobb cards. Do you have any idea what they might be worth?
GUEST:
Not a clue, not a clue.
APPRAISER:
Now you paid ten dollars, correct, for the whole box?
GUEST:
Somewhere... yeah.
APPRAISER:
Somewhere in that range, okay. Well, I would insure the whole collection $7,500.
GUEST:
Holy mackerel, that's a lot.
APPRAISER:
The real value in these sets is the fact that, yes, it has the two Ty Cobb cards. A Ty Cobb card in this condition, I could see selling in the $2,000 to $3,000 range alone.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
Yes. This particular one has a little more condition issues. So maybe $1,000.
GUEST:
Just a piece of paper.
APPRAISER:
Just a piece of paper, but it's an old piece of paper. It's got the right guy on it.
GUEST:
Yeah.
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