From stamps to wine to ceramic teacups, collecting is a pastime enjoyed by many. There’s so much joy to be found when searching and finding that coveted piece to add to your collection, especially when you have a trained eye. Good collectors know exactly what to look for and can spot the difference between what’s real and fake.
When you’ve been collecting for years, not only are you amassing pieces, you become knowledgeable and educated about what it is you collect, so when the day comes and you make the ultimate find, you know exactly what you’re in for.
Dale Ball from Visalia, California has been collecting baseball cards since he was a kid. Not only is he passionate about his collection, but the man is also pretty confident about his ability to spot a gem. Imagine his surprise when he walked into a collectibles store in Sparks, Nevada, to come across a baseball card of the legendary player Babe Ruth made by the Shotwell Company in 1921. Dale was told by the owner, “I can’t find it anywhere on the Internet. I think it’s fake.”
And so Dale nabbed it. Chris Gabooian, owner of Bases Loaded memorabilia shop, comments, “Oh my gosh, it would be an amazing card. Looking at the condition of this card it looks really nice. A card from this era of Babe Ruth, if you get it authenticated, gosh, $20-$30,000 is not out of the question.” But wait, it gets better.
The $20-$30,000 range Chris estimates is for the E-21 card, the card that Dale has potentially found, however, until it’s fully authenticated, there’s a chance it could be the Shotwell W-575-1 Babe Ruth card–the one everybody’s looking for–and could be worth millions. “God blessed me, and I intend to bless the guy that I got it from,” Dale says “I will go back to the store when it’s all over to give him a proper payment.” And if that’s the case, Dale adds, “I told him [Chris] my family’s welfare depends on it. Bidding starts at $2 million.”
This could be a very incredible opportunity for Dale, his family and the person that originally sold it to him! What goes around comes around, and it looks like it’s about to come full circle for this lucky baseball fan!
Click below to watch more of this incredible story unfold.
