Lost Collection With a Twist

[GasHouseGang]

I had never heard this story before and this version appeared in Forbes online from 2014. It's a tragic story with a weird baseball card twist.

Nov 13, 2014,10:32am EST
$2.4 Million Baseball Card And Memorabilia Collection Destroyed In Fiery, Fatal Plane Crash
David Seideman

Say you’re happy collector sitting at home assembling one of your latest acquisitions, a rare jigsaw puzzle featuring the Buffalo Bisons minor league team from the 1930s. Your loving wife and daughter are in another rooom. Then, all of a sudden, a plane crashes into your house, obliterating you and your collection.

On February 12, 2009 a commuter plane from Newark, NJ was on the verge of coming in for a landing at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport when it stalled five miles from the runway. Continental Connection Flight 3407 fell out of the sky and nose-dived into a suburban home. All 49 people aboard died in the ensuing inferno. There was single fatality on the ground. While his wife and daughter escaped with minor injuries as their house became engulfed in flames, Douglas Wielinski, who was working on the puzzle at the time of the crash, perished.

The tragedy’s legal fall-out may have been confined to local news coverage, except for a recent, interesting twist. Wielinski kept in his home a world-class baseball collection he had been building since the 1950s. During a trial lasting seven weeks, the Wielinksi family sought compensatory damages from Continental and two other parties for “the wrongful death as well as injuries, pain and suffering.” The defense placed the collection’s value at $50,000, according to Josh Evans, chairman and founder of Lelands, a top sports auction house. He testified that the collection was worth $2.4 million. In any case, his testimony appears to have stopped the trial cold. The Buffalo Express reported that one of the family’s lawyers called the abrupt confidential settlement “unprecedented in Western New York.”

Most collectors dream of owning the 1952 Mickey Mantle’s Topps rookie card, the most valuable card since World War II. Wielinksi had 10. Evans estimated they were worth $25,000, each, given their excellent condition. And those Buffalo Bison puzzles? About a month before the crash, Wielinski paid $800 for 20 of them. Evans, who had seen one in his 40-year-career, estimated that they were worth $500 apiece.

“Evans said he based his appraisal on a review of prior testimony in the trial as well as 45 boxes filled with charred debris from the house and a list of items that a lifelong friend of Douglas Wielinski, who also collected sports memorabilia, made of items he remembered seeing in the Wielinski collection over the years,” reported the Buffalo Express. “A vendor at a flea and antique market that Wielinski frequented has testified that Wielinski, who had a large collection of Yankees memorabilia, showed him the 10 Mantle rookie cards at the market.”

The list Evans relied on underscores the importance keeping track of what you collect, whether it’s Mickey Mantle or Matisse. “Leave heirs a road map,” Deborah L. Jacobs wrote in one of her Forbes posts on collecting. “Without guidance from you, heirs might have no idea what they’ve got and may end up unloading your treasures at fire-sale prices. So keep records of what everything is (including any proof of authenticity), what you estimate it is worth and why you bought it, if that is integral to its value.” To guard against a tragedy like a natural disaster or a robbery, store a list on a thumb drive or on paper with family or friends living elsewhere. Of course, there’s always your smart phone and the Cloud, too.

Art Katsapis, an avid collector and dealer of vintage baseball gloves in Portland, Oregon, maintains a detailed spreadsheet. “I do back it up from time to time and I also keep good records of gloves I buy and sell,” he says. “I would suggest that any collector do the same as I do or akin to it. I do it to justify my hobby to others and myself. I am empowered by my spreadsheet.”

Joe Phillips, a kindred spirit in Dallas, Texas, has kept his list up to date for 20 years. “Lists, pictures, and insurance have always been a mainstay for many years in virtually every antique,” he says. Taking photos, a simple task in the digital age, gives heirs an even clearer roadmap. There’s another benefit, explains Phillips: “Insurance companies seem to be much more receptive when photos of your collection are available.”

[stlcardsfan]

I remember that crash. A tragic event including this story.

[Butch7999]

The article ultimately makes good points as it relates to collectors and their collections, but it's poorly researched
and ineptly written (seriously, this was from Forbes?). We know the story vividly not only because of its tragic effect
on so many fellow Western New Yorkers, but because the plane pancaked (not "nose-dived") just a couple of blocks
from the suburban Clarence family home of the daughter-in-law of one of us here.

The crash was hardly a small item "confined to local news coverage" (and that would have been The Buffalo News,
not "The Buffalo Express," since the Express was the local paper written and edited by Mark Twain just, oh,
a few years earlier). The crash was caused in large part by inexperienced, poorly-trained pilots, and the families of
the victims had to bravely carry on a bitter legal battle for years (as fairly well covered in the national media) in order
to win legal regulations forcing reluctant major airlines to have better-experienced, better-trained pilots operating
their aircraft (regulations the airlines continue to this day to chisel away at).

[Volod]

Thanks for that clarification, Butch. I watched an episode of "Aircraft Disasters" on that event, but I don't believe that the cable tv production mentioned the homeowner's extreme misfortune regarding his collectibles.