Diamonds in the rough: $1M in memorabilia found in recluse’s home

Diamonds in the rough: $1M in memorabilia found in recluse’s home
By David L. Harris/ Roslindale Transcript
Thursday, January 19, 2006 - Updated: 06:04 PM EST

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=right> E-mail article</TD><TD width=10><SPACER width="10" type="block" height="20"></TD><TD vAlign=top align=middle> View text version</TD><TD width=10><SPACER width="10" type="block" height="20"></TD><TD vAlign=top align=left> View most popular</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>A mother lode of sports memorabilia, including vintage Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle baseball cards, turned up in a condemned home of a Roslindale recluse who died surrounded by his secret treasure.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=8><SPACER width="8" type="block" height="8"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Boston police called in to guard the house, say the overwhelming stacks of baseball, football and hockey cards dating back to the 1940s could fetch up to $1 million.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=8><SPACER width="8" type="block" height="8"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>But first cleaners had to tear through piles of trash 6 feet high to reach the cards.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=8><SPACER width="8" type="block" height="8"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>“This is like Fort Knox inside,” said Michael Wiseman of Aftermath Cleaning Co., hired to do the dirty work.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=8><SPACER width="8" type="block" height="8"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>John F. Hessian lived alone in his Roslindale home until a neighbor discovered him dead Jan. 2. He was 83 and had lived in his Granfield Avenue house all his life.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=8><SPACER width="8" type="block" height="8"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>But neighbors never knew what this hermit was hoarding.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=8><SPACER width="8" type="block" height="8"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Four truckloads — 400 to 500 boxes — of cards were just removed from the house this past week. Hessian also had the most valuable cards of his collection in a safe deposit box in an unknown location.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=8><SPACER width="8" type="block" height="8"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>As for the cards, the collection includes, for instance, Topps baseball cards from 1955 that would bring in $600 for a Ted Williams card and $2,000 for Roberto Clemente’s rookie card. A Transcript reporter touring the house found still more baseball cards from the 1950s and ’60s boxed in the basement and scattered in the living room.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=8><SPACER width="8" type="block" height="8"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Two surviving relatives, both cousins who declined to be identified, are left to hunt for a will or determine who inherits this gold mine from the golden age of baseball.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=8><SPACER width="8" type="block" height="8"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>“He was a collector. He was a packrat,” said one of the cousins. “That’s why it was such a project in trying to secure his affairs.”

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=121988

must be nice, and you just know there are 100's of these attics around the country with old baseball cards from the 50's,60's ans 70's with 500 dollar cards all over the place , just hidden away!

Wow

I had an elderly uncle kind of like this when I was a kid. But before he died we visited him and asked him about the cards. He said we could take them but he didn't have them in a box so we filled one of those big black trash bags full of cards he had from the 50's and earlier. My mother threw it away one day while we were at school because she looked in it and thought they were old. true story

t3a said:

I had an elderly uncle kind of like this when I was a kid. But before he died we visited him and asked him about the cards. He said we could take them but he didn't have them in a box so we filled one of those big black trash bags full of cards he had from the 50's and earlier. My mother threw it away one day while we were at school because she looked in it and thought they were old. true story

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Had the exact same thing happen to me! Sad but true. Women??

t3a said:

I had an elderly uncle kind of like this when I was a kid. But before he died we visited him and asked him about the cards. He said we could take them but he didn't have them in a box so we filled one of those big black trash bags full of cards he had from the 50's and earlier. My mother threw it away one day while we were at school because she looked in it and thought they were old. true story

Click to expand...

Oh man......you know that had to have easily been THOUSANDS of dollars worth-right in the trash.

I wonder if the "cleaners" cleaned some of the boxes out for themselves?