What's in your grandmother's attic?

[Chris Counts]

We hear so much from eBay scammers about how they found a T206 Wagner or a '33 Ruth in "grandma's attic." I'm wondering if anybody here as ever found any interesting baseball cards or memorabilia in the attics of their own relatives. When I was a kid, I diligently scoured the attics of most of relatives, but the only thing I ever came up with was this wonderful cabinet photo of what is presumably a young Detroit Tigers fan, and quite likely, one of my relatives. I found it back in the 1970s in my great aunt's attic in Flint, Michigan ...

[B O'Brien]

Chris,
That is awesome!
The best I did was about 50 1959 Topps cards and a local PC from around the 1880's (I don't see a scan on this computer to attach).

Super cool find,
Bob

[CW]

HA! Good stuff, Chris! Gotta love those shoes & socks.

You could always throw it up on eBay and advertise it as "Ty Cobb's Earliest
Known Card!!!"

[brianp-beme]

The ears are more like Sam Crawford.

Brian

[GoldenAge50s]

Sometime after my grandparents died I went up in the attic and found these schedules from my Grandfathers liquor store, which was right across the street from the entrance to Tullar Field.

In 1942 Wellsville joined the old Class D PONY (PA, Ontario, NY) Lg as an affiliate of the NY Yankees. Mgr was Al Monchak and on that team was Jerry Coleman (SS) and Charlie Silvera (OF). They both made it to Yankee Stadium in 1949 & 1948 respectively.

Not a big value item but a nice remembrance of my Grandpa, who was a diehard Yankee fan who never missed a Wellsville game from 1942 right up until the early '50's, when he used to take me along.

[uffda51]

No apparent baseball fans in the family tree. But my grandmother did compile an album of trade and business cards of various types from around the bay area. Her dad was in the coal business and brought home a lot of cards from other businesses. Nothing remotely related to sports. The album itself is very cool. An accordion-style book about 2 inches thick.

Gumps, founded in 1861 by Solomon & Gustav Gump, is still alive and well in SF, although they moved from Market Street to Post at some point.

[barrysloate]

Here's a true story: about ten years ago I was consigned a collection of primarily T204, T205, and T206's. Apparently the man bought an old house in upstate NY, I think near Buffalo, and while cleaning out the attic he found several hundred tobacco cards left by the previous owner. Some of the Ramlys were really high grade- I know a few hit SGC 84 and 86, and the collection ultimately sold in the tens of thousands of dollars. As it turned out, the consignor recouped nearly half the money he paid for the house from these. And they were all free! That is really amazing.

[Matthew H]

OT- In my grandmothers closets are just about every toy made in the eighties, still sealed. This thread reminded me of moping around her house as a kid, not able to play with anything.

[mintacular]

granny panties

[slidekellyslide]

Found in my great grandmother's stuff

[Section103]

Peanut Butter and cheese. Both government issued.

[Tsaiko]

Along with a ton of cards, a lot of stuff like this. All musicians in my family.

[esd10]

the best thing i ever found was a 1933 goudey ruth it was folded in half in a wallet.

[David W]

When I was a kid, my mom helped the neighbor clean out a house from a recently deceased relative.

In the attic were about 30 61 Fleer baseball greats.

Another kid and me split them by choosing one by one, I took Frank Chance with the first pick, he took Ted Williams.

I still have the cards.

[jcmtiger]

Not baseball. Found this in my Mom's attic. I think this was my brothers set.

Joe

[CW]

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

The ears are more like Sam Crawford.

Brian

Here's the scary part... I was going to make a comment about
the ears!

[joeadcock]

Barry
Great story. I would guess this would be a dream to anyone on the forum. To find a huge(or even a few) prewar/19th cent cards in an attic, especially with that value.

Frank

[nebboy]

Im going through a part of a basement find tonight, that a junk man friend of mine always give me the good stuff. Good freinds to have!
Lots of WWI (300+ RPPC) and WWII items and lots of good odds and ends stuff from 3 generantion.

BUT - Very little pre-war sports stuff. Vintage highlights:

1955 College World Series programs/score card w/guest ticket and more

1949-50 Kights Hockey program (signed by HOF Marcel Pronovost)
his one year in a farm club.

[MacDice]

In August, my grandmother (who was 90+) passed away in Spokane, WA. While going through the house we found an old cigar box that had an interesting find in it. Inside the box was my Grandfather’s high school letter and on that letter where three sets of crisscrossed baseball bats (made of felt) with the year that he letter in baseball on it. Also in the box was a few 1/2 inch pens that he was awarded for winning some city championships as well as a pitching contest pin (ironically we also found a picture of him after he had won the contest). Not a lot of value really but some really cool pieces that will look great when I frame them for my son.

[nebboy]

Originally Posted by nebboy

Im going through a part of a basement find tonight, that a junk man friend of mine always give me the good stuff. Good freinds to have!

Lots of WWI (300+ RPPC) and WWII items and lots of good odds and ends stuff from 3 generantion.

BUT - Very little pre-war sports stuff. Vintage highlights:

1955 College World Series programs/score card w/guest ticket and more

1949-50 Kights Hockey program (signed by HOF Marcel Pronovost)

his one year in a farm club.

Up-Date from this same Estate lots - I just found a Jack Dempsey Knocks out Jesse Willard Restaurant postcards that is signed by Jack Demsey to Laura. I see that there are alot of these around but still pretty cool for free.

[old-baseball]

My first vintage cards came my way as I was working on a set of 1974 Topps (during 1974). My grandmother found my dad's cards as they were cleaning out the garage at the house that they had moved into while my Dad was in the Navy during WWII. It's hard to believe that they lasted as long as they did in a cardboard box in an unheated, detached garage. The box was filled with 1933 through 1935 Goudey's, a few Tattoo Orbits, some Delong's and a bunch of non-sport stuff. I really didn't start collecting these sets until the mid to late 80's, but the cards and his stories of seeing Ruth and Gehrig in Cleveland as a boy sparked my interest. Here's a couple of cards that survived the 30 long years in that garage.

[Republicaninmass]

great items, thanks for sharing. i am always looking and asking, but nothing good yet

[chris6net]

My grandparents lived in an apartment in Queens and my Granfather being originally from the Bronx was a die hard Yankee fan who went to almost every W.S game during their great run in the 1950,s(when you could walk up and buy a ticket for a W.S. game) and had in mint condition every program from 1949 to 1964 that they played in. He passed in 1990 and I traded them for a whole bunch of 50,s cards to a dealer at the National in New Jersey in the 90,s. My grandmother who passed in 2001 had about 200 playbill magazines dating from the 40,s from Broadway also in mint condition which my sister sold as a complete collection for about 115 K to a collector. CN

[D. Bergin]

When I was kid I found an uncut sheet of 1971 Topps in my grandmothers basement. It was pretty battered though. I ended up cutting it up with a pair of scissors.

[IronHorse2130]

I've showed this once or twice before but it is perfect for this thread...

This was found in my grandmother's stuff. Her father was a HUGE Giants fan and wrote this letter home to his wife and baby (my grandmother's brother) after attending Game 1 of the 1923 World Series. Good thing he decided to send home the stub too!

You can read more about it here -

http://www.northjersey.com/news/Trea...the_attic.html

[Ohio_Collectibles]

Originally Posted by IronHorse2130

I've showed this once or twice before but it is perfect for this thread...

Thanks for sharing, I absolutely loved it and the article.

~OC

[jp1216]

About 25 years ago, my uncle told me my grandmother had a shoebox full of cards in her attic. He said "find them, and they are yours". Needless to say, I found them. 52s through 59s. No Yankees - my uncle would trade them for Red Sox. Best find was a 60% complete 1959 set. Condition was amazing. Several SGC 88s and 92s in the group. Finished the set about 12 years ago (with the discovery of ebay).