A collection of rare baseball cards estimated to be worth upwards of $20 million is apparently headed to auction.
The family of a Florida neurologist, who spent decades collecting the cards and recently passed away after a bout with coronavirus, is selling the valuable collectibles via online public auction beginning next month, according to media reports and auction records.
Dr. Thomas Newman, of Tampa, began amassing his beloved collection in the 1980s, the article said, and included several rare and highly prized cards such as a 1933 Babe Ruth card, which could potentially break the record for a single-card sale, currently held by a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card.
Newman was an obsessive collector, calling his cards his "paper babies," and would only sell one if he could replace it with the same card of a higher quality, his widow Nancy told the online auctioneer Memory Lane.
Also included in the collection is one of the aforementioned 1952 Topps Mantle rookie cards, which, according to the listing, Newman purchased in the 1980s after it had been discovered in its original, unopened packaging in Massachusetts.
Sports cards and other collectibles have seen significant upticks in price since at least the start of the pandemic, in what many have called a bubble. Rare and rookie cards of legendary players, in particular, have surged. Only weeks ago, two separate versions of the same Tom Brady rookie card set NFL sale records just days apart.
Similarly, the surge in demand for current-issue cards has caught retailers flat-footed, many of them ill-prepared to handle the large and sometimes unruly customers seeking to acquire the coveted commodities. Last week, Target announced it was temporarily pausing card sales, the move coming only days after police responded to a brawl between customers who were waiting on line for the cards outside a Wisconsin store. Target and other retailers have moved the cards behind counters at more secure locations in their stores, to curb theft and control crowding.
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