(Mother Teresa. Photo taken from Sports By Brooks, used without permission)
The following report from Beckett.com comes courtesy of Baseball Think Factory’s Repoz, who writes, “I grew wary of religion and baseball cards…when my neighborhood priest forgot the baseball cards…and tried to put closepins on my schween!”
The 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter product had barely been on the market 48 hours when one of the best cards available was pulled by a local dealer during last week’s National Sports Collectors Convention.
Chad Smith, of Wolverine Sportscards in Westchester, Ohio, bought a case of Allen & Ginter from Dave & Adam’s Card World on the show floor. Like many dealers, Smith lugged the case back to his hotel room to bust, with the intent of selling its key singles the next day. Halfway through the case, she appeared. The 1/1 Mother Teresa cut autograph.
“We had been busting for a few hours, and about to quit at 3:00 a.m. (EST) when I saw it,” Smith said. “I started shaking. I didn’t say anything, but my buddy knew I hit something big.
“I didn’t sleep all night after that. I knew I had to get to the Beckett booth first thing to get this slabbed.”
BGS encased the card in a tamperproof authentic holder.
Word of Smith’s divine pull spread like wildfire on the show floor. While value estimates on the card have ranged from $10,000 all the way up to $40,000, Smith says he’s already received an offer of $20,000, which he rejected.