News
Rare Joe Doyle error card, 1923 Babe Ruth bat sell for $1.3M in $15.7M REA auction
A 100-year-old tobacco card and a Babe Ruth game-used bat both topped $1 million in the Summer Catalog Auction at Robert Edward Auctions.
A newly-discovered 1909-11 T206 White Border Joe Doyle error card and a 1923 Ruth bat both sold for $1.323 million. It marked the first auction in REA’s 30-year history with two items surpassing $1 million. The auction, which featured nearly 3,000 items, generated more than $15.7 million in sales on more than 80,000 bids.
“It’s a big deal in the hobby when an item passes the one million dollar mark so to have two surpass that coveted benchmark on the same night is very exciting,” REA President Brian Dwyer said. “What’s very interesting about these results is you have one item tied to the most iconic player in baseball history and another that depicts a virtually unknown player, and they both sold for the same figure. It really represents how much passion there is in this industry. It also demonstrated that the high-end card and memorabilia markets are alive and well.”
The Doyle error card set a new public sale record for the card, which was previously set last year by a PSA 2 example at $1,030,047.
The 1910 Piedmont Cigarettes T206 Joe Doyle N.Y. Nat’l Hands Above Head error card, graded SGC VG+ 3.5, has no more than 10 examples in existence, making it one of the rarest cards in the world.
”Slow” Joe Doyle played just five years in the major leagues (1906-10), compiling a 22-21 record with a 2.85 ERA in 75 games for the New York Americans, or the Highlanders, who later became the Yankees. But when the card was first printed, it listed Doyle as playing for the New York Nationals, who later became the Giants.
The card was owned by a North Carolina collector born in 1900 who amassed a collection of more than 1,000 tobacco cards. The cards were passed down through his family to his daughters and grand-daughters until it eventually wound up in the hands of his great-grandson, whose mother, ironically, was not only the granddaughter of the collector but a descendent of the founding family of the American Tobacco Company that produced the popular T206 cards.
The Babe Ruth game-used bat was graded PSA/DNA GU 10 and photo-matched to a game in 1923.
Eleven other items in the Summer Catalog Auction also sold for more than $100,000, including:
• 1951 Bowman #253 Mickey Mantle Rookie (PSA NM-MT 8) $372,000.
• 1955 Topps #123 Sandy Koufax Rookie (PSA MINT 9) $360,000.
• 1948-1949 Leaf #79 Jackie Robinson Rookie (PSA NM-MT 8) $324,000.
• 1903 Boston Americans (vs. Pittsburgh Pirates) World Series Game 1 Ticket (one of only two examples known) $270,000.
• 1909-1911 T206 White Border Eddie Plank (PSA GOOD+ 2.5) $168,000.
• 1952 Topps #261 Willie Mays (SGC NM/MT 8) $144,000.
• 1980 Topps #482 Rickey Henderson Rookie (PSA GEM MINT 10) $144,000.
• 1953 Topps original card artwork collection (25) in framed display, including Yogi Berra, Red Schoendienst and Phil Rizzuto $138,000.
• 1909-1911 T206 White Border Walter Johnson Hands at Chest Broad Leaf 460 Back (PSA FAIR 1.5) $138,000.
• 1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle (PSA EX 5) $126,000.
• 1933 R319 Goudey #92 Lou Gehrig (PSA NM-MT 8) $108,000.
Other top results included:
• 1970-1971 Topps Basketball Second Series unopened wax box (24 Packs, BBCE) $96,000.
• 1909-1911 T206 White Border Ty Cobb Portrait Red Background (SGC NM/MT 8) $93,000.
• 1963 Topps Football near-complete set (169/170) (#3 PSA Set Registry) $93,000.
• 1965 Topps #477 Steve Carlton Rookie (PSA GEM MINT 10) $87,000.
• Circa 1966 Willie Mays San Francisco Giants signed, game-used glove with bat boy provenance (PSA/DNA) $63,000.
• 1932-1933 Herb Pennock New York Yankees game-used road uniform (Resolution Photomatch) $60,000.
• 1981 Topps Football #216 Joe Montana Rookie (PSA GEM MINT 10) $45,600.
• 1962 Philadelphia Warriors (vs. New York Knicks) Ticket Stub (PSA GOOD 2) from Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game. $36,000.
To see the full breakdown of REA’s Summer Catalog Auction results, please visit the company’s website.
