LITTLE SILVER – Historic Parker Homestead archivist Liz Hanson was seconds away from throwing out what is now one of the Borough of Little Silver’s most prized possessions – a collection of 106-year-old baseball cards.
“They almost wound up in the trash,” said Hanson during the first public display of the cards on Sunday. “I’m glad they didn’t!”
In February, a pipe burst in a home used to store a majority of contents from The Parker Homestead, Little Silver’s oldest building, built in 1665 and continuously occupied until the death of Julia Parker in 1995. The storage home, located on the Homestead’s property and similarly owned by the Borough of Little Silver, experienced severe flooding and will likely be demolished in the near future. However, Hanson did her best to save its contents.
“I brought over everything to my house to dry,” said Hanson, a resident of Little Silver. “I was looking through what I had and came across and old shirt box. When I opened it, the box was filled with old hair.”
It was an old Victorian practice to save hair after being cut. It could be used to make jewelry, among other things.
“It startled me. I didn’t want to open anything else,” said Hanson. “But then when I picked up a cookie tin, I heard it rattle. Hair doesn’t rattle, so I opened it and there they were.”
Inside were small delicate cards of hall of famers like Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson that came packaged with caramel candies. The candies were long gone, but the collection of cards was intact, protected from the flood by the antique cookie tin.
It is believed that Stan Parker was the owner of the 1909 Philadelphia Caramel Co. card collection that Hanson found in a small rusty and bent, green and red cookie tin. Parker was born in 1897 and would have been 12 years old when the cards were issued.
“I’ve seen [the cards] and held them,” explained Parker Homestead Trustee Keith Wells, 67, of Little Silver. “They are in remarkably good shape.”
Parker’s collection features six out of 10 National Baseball Hall of Fame members, including notable players like Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson. According to Professional Sports Authenticators (PSA), a California company that specialized in placing value on antique sports memorabilia based on their condition, a Ty Cobb card from the 1909 Philadelphia Caramel Co. collection in mint condition is worth $100,000. The Mathewson card in mint condition would be worth $70,000.
“P.S.A. rates the cards from one to ten, ten being mint condition,” Wells explained. “Our cards most likely in the two to four range.”
If Wells’ prediction is correct, the total worth of Hanson’s discovery will amount to approximately $5,000. Five thousand dollars that sat in storage for 20 years in a depreciated cookie tin.
So what happens next?
The Parker Homestead is property of the Borough of Little Silver, as gifted by the late Julia Parker, therefore the future of the antique cards will be determined by the borough and The Parker Homestead – 1665 Inc. – the non-for-profit organization in that just recently a 501c3 from the federal government and is responsible for restoration of the property. After the cards are returned from being evaluated at PSA, the collection will probably remain on display at the Homestead, which typically has open house events once a month. However, the value of the cards will be the ultimate deciding factor. After waiting 106 years to discover this treasure, the Borough of Little Silver should have a final figure within the next couple of months.
– By Dillon Stambaugh
