1914 Cracker Jack set graded by Sportscard Guaranty and sold by
MastroNet more than doubles previous price paid for any baseball
card 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.”
For
more information, contact:
Julie Stoklosa
(708) 301-5122
(708) 243-0084 (mobile)
julie@foredgemarketing.com
