1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth in Heritage

[barrysloate]

Hi All- it's been ages since I last posted but I was very curious about what happened to the sale of this Ruth card. And as I checked the thread I saw my name as one of the people who once offered a Baltimore News Ruth so I thought I would share the story.

It was not in any of my auctions but in a direct sale and was available for purchase. It was a blue one, had a decent front but serious back damage. If there is a list of the ten known specimens it would be easy to pick out. I think the price we offered it for was either 16K or 18K, don't remember exactly.

I had it for about a month a not a single person even asked about it. I had a pretty good mailing list back then and I'm sure most of the heavy hitters knew about it. I ended up returning it to my consignor.

Back in those days it was considered a piece of memorabilia, an interesting schedule card that happened to picture Babe Ruth. It was certainly important, but not on the level it is today.

Of course it doesn't explain how the Heritage one took such a hit. I guess when it sold in REA two people had to have it, and that didn't happen this time. Anyway, I remember being disappointed I wasn't able to sell it, but it was one of the examples that really lacked eye appeal.