I, too, think there are more "finds" out there than people realize. However, I see a couple of problems.
1) Unless the collection has a Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb or other well known player, a LOT of people wont realize the value of the cards and will throw them away. Or, they will just keep the well known players and ditch the rest.
I say this because I sometimes watch shows like Hoarders or Clean House and am amazed at how often the solutions to the problem is to either throw everything away, have a yard sale or donate items to a thrift or charity store.
One find that I had, 20 years ago, was of a person whose Grand Mother died and who kept everything she owned. When she died she was about 100 years old. Her first Husband was older than her and he was also a "collector".
When the Grand Children were cleaning up her place (which they said had a LOT of OLD stuff) there was an out building with a roof that had collapsed. In that building was a pile of paper items three feet high that had gotten wet and was destroyed. The Grand Son I spoke with said they had to remove the pile with shovels and nothing could be saved.
The good part, however, is that on a shelf, in a wooden box, were 1100 tobacco cards from the 1880s. I didn't have the money to buy the cards (they sold for $3,500 dollars) but I let a dealer know about them and the cards were saved. In the collection were about 100 Native American cards. There were also complete and partial sets of birds, fish, Parasol Drill, World's Smokers, World's Dudes, actresses, hold to light cards and N28's (plus some types I have probably forgotten).
The N28's only had Clarkson, Keefe and Caruthers in baseball but they had a number of boxers, wrestlers and other sports plus Wild Bill Hickok and Annie Oakley. Some of these other cards had doubles.
Other things these people found were old books, guns and tin types, one of which was of General Custer.
The point I am trying to make with this LONG story is that, luckily, the relatives of this woman had a clue about old things and saved as much of her stuff as possible. If they didn't have a clue or if a "hoarder" intervention person had showed up, I am afraid much of this stuff would have just been considered trash and thrown away.
I am sure if I didn't tell my Nephew about my cards and how much some of them were worth, he wouldn't have a clue and wouldn't know who most of the players were and what to do with them if something happens to me.
I bet there are a LOT of young people today who have no clue about antiques and when faced with teh task of cleaning out a deceased relatives house, just want to pitch stuff and be finished as quickly as possible.
2) The second problem I see is fire and disasters. I am sure there are collections truly hidden away in attics or basements but are destroyed by fire or natural disasters. With things like Hurricane Katrina, I watch television and see the destruction and wonder what was lost that nobody will ever know about.......
David
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