Panini Blog
Panini Blog
One pack. Eight cards. Sometimes that’s all it takes. So when North Carolina collector Peter DeLorme and his 12-year-old son, Spencer, got their pack of 2012 National Treasures Baseball in the mail from Atlanta Sports Cards on Monday, they knew they had eight opportunities to make collecting history. And on the eighth and final card in that pack, they did.
With Dad opening the pack and Spencer filming the break for posterity’s sake, all Peter knew for sure when he initially set eyes on that final card was that it was a 1/1 booklet of the legendary Honus Wagner. That would’ve been more than enough to qualify as the DeLormes’ greatest pull ever. But you can’t judge a booklet by its cover, so Peter opened it up to discover something much, much greater.
“Hey, I thought it was great when I realized it was a 1-of-1 for a jersey or bat,” Peter said. “But then when I realized it was the 1-of-1 cut autograph and bat, I was amazed. My son’s two favorite old-timers are Honus Wagner and Satchel Paige, so he freaked out when he realized what we had pulled! I was just glad he didn’t drop the camera.
“This is our best pull ever, hands down. This is the ‘holy grail.’ That’s what we call it.”
As the President and CEO of Legends Autographs, the elder DeLorme knows a thing or two about historic memorabilia. So as he watched unopened boxes of 2012 National Treasures Baseball rapidly disappearing from the secondary market due to overwhelming collector response, he knew he needed to pull the trigger on a box sooner rather than later.
That he and his son beat the odds by uncovering one of the most coveted single cards in 2012 National Treasures Baseball from that box almost immediately raised one chiefly important question: Keep or sell?
“My son would love to keep the card, but he just went through UT ligament split tear surgery on his wrist,
the same that Jason Werth of the Washington Nationals had, and we have incurred some pretty decent medical and travel bills since we have to travel to Minnesota for several doctor visits,” Peter said. “The money from selling the card will help defray some of the costs.”
The DeLormes listed the card on eBay yesterday with a Buy It Now price of $20,000. Stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance for updates to this story.
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