1916 Babe Ruth rookie card sells for $2.4M in Colorado auction

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — Prices for premium sports cards continue to rise, and a 1916 Babe Ruth rookie baseball card reached record heights on Friday.

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A near-mint 1916 M101-4 Sporting News card of the Hall of Famer sold for $2,460,000 in Mile High Card Company’s Fall Auction.

The Ruth card, which featured the player when he was a left-handed pitching star for the Boston Red Sox, was the signature auction lot for the Aurora, Colorado-based auction house. The card featured a blank back and was one of six graded by Professional Sports Authenticator.

Only two Ruth rookie cards from this set have been rated a PSA 7 by the grading company, and only six overall have been submitted for grading.

“We were pleased with the outcome of the Ruth rookie card, but the results all across the board only confirm that the hobby is still strong and getting stronger,” Mile High Card Company President and CEO Brian Drent said in a news release.

The 200-card set was issued in two versions by the Sporting News. One version had an advertisement on the back, while the other version had a blank back, according to the Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards.

Only six blank-backed versions have been graded by PSA, according to the company’s population report.

The Ruth card accounted for 43% of Mile High’s $5.7 million sales. The selling price was a record for the card, Mile High said in its news release.

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