It was 2004!
In February 2004 a friend called me and asked for advice on selling some "old cards" his father had acquired! We had known each other for many years but I had no prior knowledge he had any cards. He had known that I had sold cards for over 40 years and was asking for advice on how to "sell them quickly"! He told me that he had never collected cards but that in 1984 his father had given him 1/2 of an accumulation assembled between 1908 and 1915! Yes, I was excited. I think this qualifies as "a find"!
I discovered that my friend's father was born in 1900 and that as a child the father loved sports, particularly baseball. Unfortunately from 1908 to 1915 he was confined to a wheelchair much of the time but friends and family brought him cards so that he could vicariously enjoy baseball. My friend arrived at my home with about 600 of the 1375 cards given to him by his father. My friend claimed to have no knowledge of the value of the cards but he did point out one card that someone had told him was worth $16,500! It was the T206 Doyle "NATL"! I believe that at the time (February 2004) only 6 or 7 were known to exist.
Larrie Dean
Dean's House of Cards
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