Maine Company Buys Rare Baseball Cards for Auction

There are more than 1,400 cards in perfect condition going to the Saco River Auction Company

The Saco River Auction Company has bought a large collection of T-206 cards, or tobacco cards, from a man in Portland, Maine.

"Most guys they collect, they have 10 or 15 or 20, some of them are ripped or whatever, but to have this many in this condition and the quality, is just very rare," Floyd Hartford of the Saco River Auction Company said.

The cards, more than 1,400 in total, belong to three brothers. They were passed down from their grandfather, who picked up a smoking habit as a teenager.

"Every time he smoked a pack of cigarettes or he bought a pack of cigarettes back in the early 1900's, you got a card and this gentleman was smart enough to keep them," Hartford explained.

The auction house brought the cards to be authenticated by an expert in New Jersey. They were taken out of the albums they had been stored in and placed in plastic holders with labels. They have all the qualities auctioneers say have the potential to bring in big money.

"Rarity, we have that. Scarcity, we have that. And condition, we certainly have that," Hartford said.

Since the word got out about the find, people everywhere want to get in on the action.

"We've had calls from all around the country people have baseball cards or related sports items and they want to get in on it because there's going to be such a crowd here such a crowd buying expensive cards, if they have something expensive they want to ride the wave," Hartford continued/

The auction house hopes the cards will lead to more rare finds and another record-setting sale. 

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