Rare Babe Ruth card found in Altoona sells for nearly $350,000

ALTOONA, Pa. — An Altoona nurse working the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic discovered a rare Babe Ruth card, which sold for nearly $350,000 Sunday.

The Babe Ruth rookie card, which was part of an Altoona Tribune card collection that was discovered in the woman’s late grandfather’s belongings, sold for $342,000 in an online auction.

The woman discovered a pile of 53 cards in the belongings of her deceased grandfather, who owned an antiques business in western Pennsylvania not far from Altoona, according to Robert Edward Auctions. Ruth and nine other of these rare advertising cards were in the pile.

The cards, which were designed to include advertising for everything from newspapers to clothing stores, had an Altoona Tribune ad slogan printed on the back.

This is a very distinctive example of Babe Ruth’s rookie card, universally regarded as one of the most significant cards in all of card collecting, the auction house said in a release.

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