Couple Find Rare Sports Cards in Basement
FERNDALE, Mich. - A search for a water leak resulted in a rare find for a Michigan couple. Hidden in the basement ceiling of their home, Barbara and Harley Earl found tobacco cards from 1910-11 that could fetch thousands at an auction this weekend.
Barbara Earl, 55, thought she heard water dripping two summers ago, so she told her husband to take a look. When he inspected the basement with a flashlight, he discovered a box in the rafters, unnoticed for the 20 years they had lived in the home.
"You couldn't really see it; it was back a little bit," Harley Earl, a retired middle school teacher, told the Detroit Free Press for a Thursday story.
When the Earls opened the box, they found more than 300 Sweet Caporal cigarette cards. About 200 of the cards featured baseball players from 1910, including multiple copies of Tigers outfielder Ty Cobb and Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson.
The other hundred cards depicted cowboys, Indians, lighthouses and famous buildings.
The box belonged to Barbara's grandfather, Russell Wetmore, who originally purchased the house in 1923. Along with the cards were several mementos that Wetmore kept, including a report card from elementary school.
The Earls had discovered other items Barbara Earl's grandparents hid in the house. But this box marked the first time they had discovered something of significant monetary value.
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