I found a bunch of old baseball cards in my grandfather’s attic – they could be worth $3million thanks to rare detail
A BASEBALL fanatic has unearthed a trove of sports cards that could be worth a staggering $3million.
Karl Kissner discovered the collection while he was tidying his grandfather’s attic in Defiance, Ohio.
The bundle contained hundreds of collector cards, which dated back to 1910, and were in mint condition.
Karl discovered around 700 cards in total and the memorabilia had the faces of baseball legends emblazoned on the front.
He said he recognized the faces of stars such as Ty Cobb, Cy Young, and Honus Wagner.
Memorabilia experts authenticated the cards and said the bundle could be worth $3million.
Karl told the Associated Press in 2012 that he and his cousin Karla stumbled on the find while rummaging in the attic.
The cards were found underneath a wooden dollhouse and wrapped in twine.
Karl and Karla initially put the cards aside as they had to finish off tidying the attic, before Karl took a closer look at the collection weeks later.
He said the cards looked small and was puzzled as to why they didn’t contain any information such as statistics.
The memorabilia just contained the player’s name and encouraged collectors to pick up the remaining cards in the set.
But, the cards were in excellent condition as they weren’t creased and the colors were bright.
Karl compared the discovery to “finding the Mona Lisa” in the attic, per Bleacher Report.
He revealed that his grandfather Carl Hench, who died in the 1940s, probably gave the playing cards away as part of a promotion while working at his meat market.
Karl said the collector items that remained were put in a box and stored away in the attic.
He added: “We guess he stuck them in the attic and forgot about them.”
Auctioneers were left stunned when Karl sent a sample of the playing cards to see how much they were worth.
Chris Ivy, of Heritage Auctions, said: “Some families have natural gas on their land or oil, and turns out this family went up in the attic and found cards worth gold.”
Ivy revealed that three lots were expected to sell for anywhere between $500,000 and $1million.
The auctioneer said he expected the entire bundle would rake in between $2million and $3million.
A Honus Wagner card, that was in perfect condition, brought in a whopping $239,000 alone.
Karl revealed that the discovery has helped bring his family together.
He said: “It started out with a walk down memory lane, and this is going to create nothing but new memories.”
The first baseball card was created in the 1860s and the popularity of collecting the memorabilia has surged in the US.
A buyer forked out an eye-watering $12.6million for a 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card in August last year.
The mint condition collector’s item was described as the Holy Grail of baseball cards.
It shattered the previous memorabilia record when a bidder paid $9.3million for Argentina legend Diego Maradona’s jersey that he wore in the 1986 World Cup clash with England.
Maradona scored his famous “Hand of God” goal in the game.