Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009
By Mike Osegueda / The Fresno Bee

“Digging a rare 1869 baseball card out of a box has taken local antique shop owner Bernice Gallego from the pages of the New York Times to Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” as the “baseball card Granny.”

Next up is parting ways with the card. An auction to sell the card started Tuesday, the same day Gallego, 72, appeared with Leno.

The 1869 baseball card features a photo of the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

The auction, on memorylaneinc.com, will last 21 days and started at $10.”

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UPDATE: As of noon on January 25, 2009, the bid is sitting at $26,573.00.
UPDATE: it looks like the final price was $64,073.00.

Looking for a poster of the 1869 Cincinnati (Red Stockings) Baseball Club << click here

BroadcastNewsroom
By BusinessWire

“Nation’s Premier Toy Retailer Celebrates Chaotic Arrival with Dedicated Chaotic Boutique in Toys “R” Us Times Square Over 1,000,000 Chaotic Cards Registered at www.chaoticgame.com

NEW YORK, BUSINESS WIRE — The Chaotic Trading Card Game(TM), which integrates a collectible trading card game with a unique online game experience, makes its debut at Toys “R” Us stores in the United States beginning Tuesday, January 8.

4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: KDE), the children’s entertainment powerhouse that turned the trading card-based properties Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! into worldwide sensations, and its subsidiary TC Digital Games LLC, will continue to expand distribution of this innovative trading card property at other leading specialty and mass market retailers throughout the first quarter of 2008.”

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IndyStar.com
November 7, 2007
By David Lieberman
USA Today

“NEW YORK — Don’t choke on your bubble gum when you hear what former Walt Disney chief executive Michael Eisner has in mind for Topps, the 69-year-old trading card and candy company just acquired for $385 million by a consortium he led.

Eisner wants Topps to create a movie, TV, Internet and publishing franchise around Bazooka Joe, the eye-patch-wearing kid who was introduced in 1953 on the waxy comics that wrap Topps’ Bazooka bubble gum.”

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Since Topps Chewing Gum was founded in 1938, the company — now known as Topps — has become an international force in candy, trading cards and memorabilia.

One of the cards was up on eBay in the baseball category, but was pulled after a member complained that that “George Washington cannot have a baseball card”. And now that we’ve done a search, the owner indicates that it’s actually been listed twice.

It’s back on the block again, this time listed under Collectibles > Historical Memorabilia > Other Historical Items, and of this writing is sitting with 23 bids at US $4,540.00.

Washington Shed Here: A Collectible

New York Times
By MICAH COHEN
Published: September 5, 2007

“Finding a strange hair in a plate of spaghetti: bad. Finding a strand of George Washington’s hair in a pack of baseball cards: good.

Among cards picturing third basemen and center fielders, the Topps Company, the maker of baseball trading cards and Bazooka bubble gum, inserted three George Washington “relic” cards, each with a strand of hair from the first president. Topps obtained the strands from the world’s pre-eminent historical hair collector (yes, there is such a thing), John Reznikoff.”

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She also offers some good links for finding out more information about them.

Collectible Gift Cards

By Michele Alice
AuctionBytes.com
January 07, 2007

“The holidays are over, and by now you’ve put away your gifts, taken down the decorations, and hauled the tree to the curb or landfill. And you’re using all those nice little plastic gift cards you found in your stocking at those great January sales.

But when their balances drop to $0, don’t throw them away – collect them!”

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The standard use of Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, and Spades was first used in France in the late 1400′s. The symplicity of these symbols meant that other than the court cards (The King, Queen, and Jack), they could easily be reproduced by stenciling. France became the leading exporter of cards by the 16th century, prompting the English to form an association of playing card manufacturers who were granted a Royal Charter in 1628. The authorities also decided to levy a sales tax on them, when they realized that money was being made and lost based on the popularity of playing cards – this tax lasted all the way up to 1960.

The Americans (specifically Samuel Hart) are credited with introducing the Joker in the 19th century. The reversible court cards were first introduced by the French, but it was patented in Great Britain in 1799 by Edmund Ludlow and Ann Wilcox.

As cards from before the 19th century are extremely rare, collectors tend to focus on Victorian and 20th Century packs, with popular subjects including advertising cars and children’s games. As with other collectibles, condition is extremely important in determing value, with packs in their original boxes or wrappers commanding the top prices.

Chicago Tribune
Michael Hirsley
Published August 16, 2006

“Shortstop Honus Wagner was a lifetime .327 hitter who led the National League in batting average eight times, in RBIs and stolen bases five times and was among the first five inductees into baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1936.

But that doesn’t explain why his 1909 baseball card is far and away the most expensive, dubbed the “Holy Grail” or “Mona Lisa” of baseball cards.”

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Baseball card market has gone flat since the glory days of 1991

Los Angeles Times
By Greg Johnson, Times Staff Writer
July 29, 2006

“David Rima sat cross-legged on the concrete floor of the Anaheim Convention Center this week, gazing at a dozen century-old baseball trading cards. The corporate headhunter had just spent about $300 to augment his collection of the tiny cards that were distributed long ago by tobacco companies, and he still had more money to spend.

“They’re so beautiful, so fascinating,” Rima said. No matter, he conceded, that it is virtually impossible for “a working man” to snare all 700 cards in the 1909 set that is best known for the mint-condition Honus Wagner card that in 2001 sold for $1.25 million. That card is on display at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Anaheim, the biggest collectors show of the season, which runs through Sunday.”

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1) 1909 Honus Wagner from Sweet Caporal Cigarette Company – Value: $1.265 million
2) 1952 Mickey Mantle from Topps – Value: $127,500
3) 1933 Babe Ruth from Goudey Gum Co. – Value: $105,000
4) 1954 Ted Williams from Wilson Franks – Value: $100,000
5) 1954 Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron from Topps – Value: $17,000
6) 1989 Ken Griffey Jr. from Upper Deck – Value: $250

CNNMoney.com
Financial News – Yahoo! Finance
Friday July 28, 12:39 pm ET
By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer

“Once a year, baseball-card collectors gather for the granddaddy of all sports collectible conventions – the National Sports Collectors Convention.

Currently underway in Anaheim, Calif., the four-day event will not only be a place for collectors to haggle over the value of their Lou Gehrigs and Jackie Robinsons, there’s bound to be a few collectors who reflect on how the hobby took a nosedive during the 1990s.”

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