GUEST: This is a collection of baseball schedules, I hope from 1898. I got these as a gift from one of my dad's friends and co-workers when I was really young, five or six years old. I don't know much about them. I was not able to find any information about them online. I do know that in 1898, there were 12 professional baseball teams.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: And there's 12 schedules here. Other than that, that's about all I know.
APPRAISER: I've never seen a complete set of the playing card schedules like this. It's all 12 teams in the 1898 National League, including, we have to start with St. Louis, Baseball Club. Then we have the Boston Bean Eaters. The New York Giants. And then what I'm most excited to see today is the Louisville Colonels. So, of course, the Louisville Colonels were only the Louisville Colonels from 1885 to 1899. But then when the owner bought a part-interest in the Pirates, the team folded, and Louisville Colonels memorabilia is very scarce. These were inserted in playing cards. And what's interesting, none of these came from the same deck. So somebody had to put this collection together one at a time to do the complete set of 12, had them riveted so you could fan them out, keep them together. And it's really incredible to see a complete set like this. I've never seen or heard of one in existence.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: I would put this group at auction of a value of $2,500 to $3,000.
GUEST: That's outstanding. I never expected that.
