A Man Bought an Old Photo Album for Under $100. Inside Was the Oldest Known Baseball Card

A yard-sale photo album bought in Baileyville, Maine, for under $100 turned out to contain an 1865 Brooklyn Atlantics card that the Library of Congress has identified as the first dated baseball card. The buyer acquired the album along with old Coca-Cola bottles and two oak chairs, and the card later sold at auction, though the article excerpt does not specify the final price. The discovery matters because it pushes the known history of baseball cards back to the immediate post-Civil War era and links the hobby's origins to a documented, dated team photograph. Collectors and auction houses will now be watching whether the sale sets a new benchmark for early baseball memorabilia and whether other period albums yield similar finds.