Record-breaking year for Mile High Card Company

A year of newly discovered material and record shattering prices concluded with Mile High Card Company’s elite December event, headlined by two items of autographed memorabilia that are fresh to the hobby; a 1923 completely handwritten Babe Ruth letter with baseball content graded PSA/DNA 9 MINT that sold for $88,780 and a Jackie Robinson single-signed baseball graded JSA, SGC MINT 9, PSA/DNA MINT 9 that broke through with a price of $80,525.

“It was already a tremendous year for Mile High Card Company before this auction and being able to offer these two spectacular items was a perfect way to finish strong!” said MHCC president and CEO Brian Drent.

Also offered was a rare Babe Ruth rookie-era Type I Original News Photo (Underwood and Underwood) in Red Sox Uniform that brought in $41,047.

A key feature to the December auction was the breakup of the #5 PSA Set Registry rated 1911 T3 Turkey Red collection, netting a total of $97,739 that included strong sale prices for Walter Johnson PSA 5 EX ($6,938), Bobby Wallace PSA 6 EX/MT ($6,158) and #39 Rube Waddell PSA 6 EX/MT ($6,094). Several other T3’s set new records for prices realized with #15 Kid Elberfield PSA 5 EX netting $5,746, Wee Willie Keeler PSA 5 selling for $3,683, Johnny Kling PSA 6 EX/MT bringing in $3,630 and Rube Manning PSA 6 EX/MT closing at $3,630.

A #9 Ty Cobb PSA 5 EX that was independent of the collection sold for $18,613. 

A 1925 Exhibits Lou Gehrig PSA 4 (MK) VG/EX, his rookie card, that sold for $47,472 and a 1933 Goudey #106 Napoleon Lajoie PSA 4 VG/EX that claimed $38,752 led the sports cards portion of the auction.

Other key cards include: an 1887 N28 Allen & Ginter Cap Anson SGC 84 NM 7 that sold for $10,150, 1908 E102 Ty Cobb SGC 60 EX 5 ($11,180), 1921 American Caramel Co. E121 Babe Ruth SGC 55 VG/EX 4.5 ($20,697), 1933 Goudey #92 Lou Gehrig SGC 80 EX/NM 6 ($5,418), 1939 Play Ball #92 Ted Williams SGC 92 NM/MT+ 8.5 ($20,046), 1948-49 Leaf Gum Co. #79 Jackie Robinson SGC 84 NM 7 ($12,593), 1949 Bowman #36 Pee Wee Reese PSA 10 GEM MINT ($11,546), 1957 Topps Checklist 3/4 Twin Blony PSA 8.5 NM/MT+ ($5,036), 1957 Topps Checklist 4/5 Bazooka PSA 8 NM/MT ($6,094), 1958 Topps #189 George Susce PSA 10 GEM MINT ($5,540), 1964 Topps #50 Mickey Mantle PSA 9 MINT ($7,633) and 1981 Topps #216 Joe Montana PSA 10 GEM MINT at $9,541.

The more than 140 lots of autographed baseballs in the auction featured many top sellers, including single-signed examples of Walter Johnson ($8,611), Grover Cleveland Alexander ($10,496), Cy Young ($12,282) and Paul Waner ($11,621), as well as a team-signed ball from the 1927 New York Yankees with Gehrig that went for $4,301, 1923 Cleveland Indians team-signed OAL (Johnson) Ball with (25) signatures featuring Speaker that sold for $2,999, 1937 All-Star Game ball with Gehrig, Foxx and DiMaggio that sold for $2,319, 1955 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony multi-signed OAL (Harridge) Ball with (27) signatures featuring Foxx, Speaker and Young that brought in $3,397 and 1961 N.L. All-Star team featuring Clemente that netted $2,047.

Top-ranked sets were prominently featured once again with a 1964 Philadelphia Football Complete Set #1 on PSA Set Registry with Set Rating of 10.595 receiving heavy action that resulted in a $47,553 sale price. Other prized collections were a 1933 Goudey Complete Set with PSA Graded that sold for $25,587, 1934 Goudey Complete Set with PSA Graded that sold for $14,023, 1948 Leaf Baseball Complete Set with PSA Graded that closed at $26,867, 1975 Hostess Master Complete Set #1 on PSA Set Registry selling for $3,397 and a 1975 Hostess Twinkie Complete Set #1 on PSA Set Registry claiming $3,697.