GUEST: They belonged to my dad first, but he's passed away, 2018.

And we came across some cleaning out a storage unit.

One of the last box we opened, it's, like, "Oh, my gosh, here's some baseball cards."

APPRAISER: What do you know about how he obtained these?

GUEST: Well, in 1933, Bill would have been about 12 years old.

And I could see him collecting these cards.

He had the scrapbook, and so he had every slot numbered.

There's 239 cards in the set.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: Some of 'em are a little wrinkled, so I could see him actually have one in his back pocket.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: Bringing it to school to trade.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: You know, with his buddies or something.

APPRAISER: I'm shaking not because I'm nervous, but because I'm so excited... GUEST: (laughs) APPRAISER: ...to talk about these today.

The Goudey Gum Company, founded in 1919 by Enos Gordon Goudey, was strictly a gum company.

That was their business, was chewing gum.

So Enos Gordon Goudey retires in 1932.

He stays with the company as a consultant.

And then in 1933, they decide to do this idea of combining a baseball card with a stick of chewing gum, using the baseball card as a way to encourage people to buy their gum.

And out of this idea, they end up creating one of the most revolutionary sets of cards in the history of collecting.

They took it to a whole new level when you look at the aesthetics on these cards.

The vibrant colors, the quality of the printing far surpass anything that had been done previously.

And nearly every card in the set is considered a rookie card.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: And everything done previously to that was either in tobacco or it was in candy.

And most cards before this were just regional.

The packs were one cent and you got one card.

GUEST: Oh, boy.

APPRAISER: That's it-- so the set had a checklist for 240 cards.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: However, we see in your f, the first sheet here that card number 106 is not there.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: What they did as a marketing ploy is, they didn't actually print card 106 so that people would continue buying more packs... GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: ...chasing this card 106.

GUEST: Got it.

APPRAISER: They had so many complaints about people not being able to put together the set that you, people actually started writing off to the company, to Goudey, and so, in 1934, they actually then printed card 106.

They're extremely hard to find.

So whether you have 239 cards or 240 cards, they're both considered a complete set.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: Because these have been housed in a scrapbook album like this for so many years, the color is fantastic.

The second thing I looked at were the tabs.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Okay?

So good news is, we look at the Babe Ruth here, top center.

It's just slid in those little corners.

No issues whatsoever.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: But then I had to look at the heart-shaped tabs, and we've actually folded back a couple of those heart-shaped tabs.

The great news is, the glue has dried out and those little corners just fold right back... GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: ...for the card to slide out.

Most of your key cards in here are actually in the best condition of all of 'em in here.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: To have a complete set typically is something that's done by a collector who has the budget to go out and seek each card individually.

I don't think I've ever seen a set that was ever discovered that was assembled like this in 1933.

Talking about the individual cards, the Lou Gehrig has a little bit of a centering issue on the left, but again, the color is as good as you could ask for.

It just has the little corners.

It's going to come, come right out of that.

That one, I expect at auction, would sell for $5,000 to $7,500.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: The Babe Ruth, it's in very good condition.

That one's gonna sell at auction for $20,000 to $30,000.

GUEST: Okay.

(chuckling) APPRAISER: So the infamous card 106, that was Napoleon Lajoie, Hall-of-Fame second baseman who retired in 1916.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Currently, if somebody was to want to add that card 106 to this set to make it that 240 of 240, in very good condition, similar to these, you're looking at, like, $50,000.

GUEST: Just to get that card?

APPRAISER: Just to add 1-0, card 106 to this set.

GUEST: Okay, okay.

APPRAISER: I've inspected every page condition-wise to see where we're at.

And this set, at auction, I would expect to sell for $110,000 to $130,000.

GUEST: All right!

Awesome.

I'm so happy.

APPRAISER: And I would say for insurance purposes, $150,000.

GUEST: Okay, okay, awesome.