Most Significant Hobby Find

[ErikV]

This was the press release from Mastro Auctions regarding the 2004 National/1914 Cracker Jack set:

There’s still a prize in every box. And so it seems, a few surprises still left in the world of sports card collecting. An exhilarating find of pristine 1914 Cracker Jacks, still in the original company envelope, surfaced at the recent National Sports Convention in Cleveland, OH. The set’s discovery and subsequent sale has taken the value of vintage baseball card sets to an unprecedented level.

In 1914, Cracker Jack sought to entice young buyers by including a baseball trading card in every box. Most existing 1914 Cracker Jack cards, long coveted by sports card collectors, display notorious staining from insertion next to the caramel candy and were further damaged by eager hands grabbing for the card. The recently sold set, however, features none of these defects.

“Our guess is that the cards came directly from the factory, were placed in a Cracker Jack company envelope and kept in the same family for all these decades as a keepsake. These cards were never inserted in any Cracker Jack boxes,” said Doug Allen, president of MastroNet, Inc., the auction house that represented the seller of the set.

Allen says the discovery of the cards represents a monumental event in the sports card collecting industry and provides some valuable insight. “There’s this impression that all of the great vintage material has been found. And then this fresh set of amazing cards walks in the door at the National. You just never know when the next “attic find” is going to show up,” said Allen. Allen’s excitement of being involved in the record sale is fueled not only by the high price and previously unknown existence of the cards, but also by their condition.

Sportscard Guaranty (SGC), a leading authentication and grading source, was chosen to assess the condition of the 144 cards in the set that features players such as Ty Cobb, Joe Jackson and Honus Wagner. “It’s hard to find words that would do this set justice,” said Dave Forman, president of SGC. “The Joe Jackson card , which grades Gem Mint 98, is the finest pre-war card our firm has ever graded. In my opinion it is the best pre-war card in existence period,” said Forman. The rest of the set, according to Forman grades overall near mint to mint or better. “Phenomenal is all I can say,” said Forman. “I see great cards every day. But this is definitely a career highlight. Sportscard Guaranty was honored to be selected to grade this monumental set.”