The Greatest Find Ever

As a young lad in the hobby I would hear the amazing stories of attic discoveries or estate finds that would blow everyone away. An unopened box of some 1950's Topps boxes or a giant stash of vintage pre-WWII cards would suddenly make a appearance in the hobby. Alan "Mr. Mint" Rosen would actively advertise his phenomenal buys of mint vintage cards he paid thousands of dollars in cash for. All the while I would lay back in my bed and daydream about one day finding something as grand. At 36 I'm still dreaming and searching.

Fortunately, the Internet provides the fodder that keeps me hoping. I have a story here that is making its rounds on various hobby boards. It includes probably the single most incredible find of unopened material the hobby has every seen.Robert Edwards Auctions has unearthed a find that boggles the mind. A collection of 1930's era unopened gum boxes has recently been consigned to them.

This material was very recently discovered. These boxes and packs were saved by a candy and gum distributor as ordering samples. The distributor kept these samples on a large shelving unit just for reference, to identify product for ordering purposes. As new products came in, sometimes boxes of old products would be shoved to the back of the sample product shelf, eventually hidden from view by more current product samples. The boxes and packs presented here were pushed so far back on the shelf that they were completely hidden from view, providing all the elements of a perfect time capsule, and allowing them to be completely undisturbed and perfectly preserved all these years. These boxes and packs, having been received directly from the manufacturers, have not been seen or touched or even exposed to light since being put on a shelf at the candy and gum distributor 70 to 80 years ago!

Wow! There are only a handful of Baseball related items (and not everything has cards in them), but the magnitude of the find surely must cause all collectors to gasp. There are packs and boxes from National Chicle, Goudey, Tattoo Orbit, Gum Inc., Dockman and many other lesser known manufacturers. Four Babe Ruth's and a previously unknown Walter Johnson card in clear packaging are included. Previously unknown packs keep hobbyist wondering, "did I really know everything about the set?"Even the folks at REA were astounded as they couldn't believe the correspondence from the seller.

"Many times people contact us with things they've found that sound too good to be true and they usually are," REA president Rob Lifson told Sports Collectors Daily. "Never had anyone written us with something like this, though. It's something that's hard to misrepresent. It really seemed like it was plausible. It just had a good feel to it. Now, after seeing what he had, I'm just speechless."

I'm speechless too. Unfortunately, I'm a bit penniless also, so I'll have to admire these treasures from afar.

Go to REA's blog for more pics or to Sports Collectors Daily for additional info.

Hat Tip: VBCF: