World · India Bureau
Woman discovers rare Babe Ruth card in piano, sells for $130,000
A Maryland woman's $25 purchase of a used piano has yielded an unexpected windfall after she discovered a valuable 1916 Babe Ruth rookie card hidden inside the instrument. The baseball memorabilia sold at auction for $130,053 more than two decades after its discovery.
LSN India ·
Ellen Kelly purchased her aunt's old piano in Maryland in 1992 for $25, intending to repair and restore the aging instrument. While working on a stuck pedal, a friend discovered 112 vintage baseball cards tucked away inside the piano's mechanism—a hidden cache that had remained undisturbed for decades.
Among the collection was a 1916 Babe Ruth rookie card, one of baseball's most coveted pieces of memorabilia. Rather than immediately publicise the find, Kelly chose to keep the discovery private, preserving the cards for nearly three decades.
In 2019, Kelly decided to auction the Babe Ruth card, one of the most valuable items in the collection. The card sold at auction for $130,053, significantly exceeding presale estimates and reflecting the strong market demand for vintage baseball memorabilia from the sport's early era.
The discovery underscores how valuable items can sometimes lie dormant in ordinary household goods, waiting for chance encounters to bring them to light. Kelly's patient approach to the find ultimately proved rewarding, transforming a modest purchase into a substantial financial gain.