The discovery of century-old baseball cards in an Ohio attic became one of the most remarkable finds in sports collecting. In 2012, cousins clearing out a family home in Defiance discovered a box containing roughly 700 cards that had remained hidden for decades. The cards were not ordinary keepsakes. They belonged to the rare E98 series from around 1910 and included some of baseball’s most famous names. Their unusually good condition soon attracted experts, turning a forgotten family possession into a collection valued in the millions.
How 700 rare baseball cards ended up under a dollhouse
The story began in an attic in Defiance, Ohio, when Karl Kissner and one of his cousins were helping clear out the home of Kissner’s late grandfather. According to the official website of Major League Baseball(MLB), the family property had passed through several generations before it eventually went to their aunt, Jean Hench. After her death, her belongings were left to 20 nieces and nephews.While sorting through the attic in late February 2012, the cousins came across a cardboard box hidden beneath a dollhouse. Inside were roughly 700 baseball cards dating from around 1910. As reported by BaseballHistory, the cards were part of the E98 Set of 30, a small series that featured 30 players and included 17 Hall of Famers in four colour variations.The cards had apparently belonged to Carl Hench, who had run Hench’s Meat Market & Sausage Works in Defiance. As reported by BaseballHistory, he likely kept surplus cards from the business in the attic, where they remained untouched for about a century.
This century-old forgotten box contained famous baseball names
The significance of the discovery became clearer once the cards were examined. MLB reported that the collection included cards featuring Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson and Connie Mack. These were not simply old cards bearing unfamiliar players. Many belonged to some of the most recognisable figures from baseball’s early years.The E98 series itself was unique. MLB noted that it contained only 30 players, with half of them being Hall of Famers. The manufacturer of the series was also unclear, adding another interesting detail to an already unusual collection.The cards had survived in an attic rather than in a carefully managed collection. Instead of showing the heavy wear that might normally be expected from paper items more than 100 years old, many of the cards appeared remarkably well preserved.
From left to Right: Cards of Christy Mathewson, Connie Mack and Cy Young. Image Credit: Heritage Auctions
What made the century-old baseball cards so valuable
Kissner did not immediately rush to sell the cards. MLB reported that he left them alone for two weeks after finding them while he researched what the family might have discovered. He eventually sent 8 cards to Peter Calderon at Heritage Auctions in Dallas for an expert assessment.Calderon was struck by both the rarity and condition of the cards. The family then sent the entire collection to the Professional Sports Authenticator(PSA), world’s largest and most trusted third-party company that authenticates and grades trading cards, sports memorabilia, and autographs, for further examination and grading.According to MLB, PSA had previously authenticated fewer than 700 E98 cards in total, while the cards from this collection were described as the best examples the company had seen. Sixteen Ty Cobb cards from the group received a grade of nine on the 1-to-10 scale. Even more remarkable, a Honus Wagner card received a perfect 10, the first E98 card to receive that grade from the company.The BaseballHistory report identifies the find as the Black Swamp Find, named after the north-western Ohio region where Defiance is located. It reports that the collection ultimately brought an estimated $3 million through Heritage Auctions.
The cards worth far more than an ordinary attic collection
The possible value quickly moved to a value that would have been difficult for the family to imagine when the box was first discovered. MLB initially reported that the complete collection could bring between $2 million and $3 million. The 37 strongest cards alone were expected to fetch about $500,000 at an August auction held during the National Sports Collectors Convention in Baltimore.The collection was not put on the market all at once. Heritage Auctions planned to sell the cards over several years through auctions and private sales. The approach was intended to avoid putting hundreds of valuable cards on the market at the same time.The family also had to divide the discovery among a large number of relatives. According to MLB, the Hench family planned to split the cards and proceeds evenly among the 20 cousins named in their aunt’s will, with most of them agreeing to sell their share.
What made the Ohio discovery different from typical attic finds
The story became memorable not simply because the cards were old, but because several unique factors came together. According to BaseballHistory, most attic collections do not contain anything remotely comparable. Many consist of mass-produced cards from the 1980s and 1990s, old programmes or family memorabilia with little resale value.