Everyone seems to have heard a story about how their parents or siblings threw out their childhood baseball card collection. While these stories are commonplace, such losses helped add to the increased scarcity of vintage baseball cards in the modern day. Recently, Just Collect met with an individual that had a collection that most in the family thought had met the same unfortunate fate. The gentleman that contacted Just Collect mentioned that this collection had been his father’s and was collected during his childhood in 1941. At some point, the collection vanished and the thoughts turned to whether it had been thrown out or stolen. For decades, the gentleman thought his collection was gone and sadly, he passed away believing this to be the case. Recently, while preparing to move out of the old family home, one of the father’s sons stumbled across a box poking up from the insulation in the attic. Upon inspection, it was found to be the long lost collection of 1941 Play Ball cards their late father had collected as a child. The same collection that the father had feared had been lost forever. While this sounds incredible, it sounds even better in one of the son’s own words:
“My dad had 1941 Play Ball cards since he was young. He put them in the attic for years and left them untouched. Years ago, he had work done in the attic and when the work was done, my dad could not find the cards. Years passed and he became ill. He died thinking the contractors stole the cards.
Four years ago, my mom sold the house and my brother was moving everything out of the attic. On the last day of the move, he saw something sticking out of the insulation. He checked it out and in an open box, he found the baseball cards. My dad died thinking the cards were stolen when, in fact, he still had them.”
After contacting Just Collect, we met with another of the man’s sons to discuss the collection. The story of how the cards were believed lost and how they were found was almost as amazing as the condition of the cards. Left alone in the attic for decades, most of the cards still remained in incredible condition and composed virtually a complete set of 72 cards sans a few commons. The big guns were all there, including Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Pee Wee Reese, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell and all of the other stars of the era. Also, there were plenty of duplicates including several additional Pee Wee Reese rookie cards. Unfortunately, a few of the cards succumbed to the elements with some mild toning and a few with silverfish damage, but all-in-all, they presented one of the nicer 1941 Play Ball finds in recent memory with a majority of the collection ranging from Excellent to Near Mint although a few graded lesser as a result of the aforementioned toning and silverfish. After discussing the collection with the son, he asked for some time to consider the offer. After a few weeks, the family agreed to sell the baseball card collection and the son called Just Collect to finalize the purchase and he noted, “I was treated fairly by Just Collect and was given all the time I needed. They explained the condition and value of every card. I made the right choice coming to Just Collect.” Just Collect will proudly be offering many of the cards from this “Lost then Found Baseball Card Collection” in the very near future. We are certain that hobbyists will be pleased with the quality of this collection. As happy, we hope, as Just Collect was to purchase them.
