Vintage card collection found in dead man's home

[sa_butta]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/01/19/cards.treasure.ap/index.html?cnn=yes

Secret treasure

Classic baseball cards found in dead man's home

BOSTON (AP) -- Police were called to guard the condemned home of a reclusive man whose death led to the discovery of a valuable collection of vintage sports cards.

The collection, stored in 400 to 500 boxes in John F. Hessian's home in Boston's Roslindale section, included cards of such long-ago baseball stars as Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente. Hessian also had football and hockey cards dating to the 1940s in a collection police estimate could be worth up to $1 million.

"This is like Fort Knox inside," said Michael Wiseman of Aftermath Cleaning Co., which was hired to tear through piles of trash 6-feet high to reach the cards.

Hessian, 83, lived alone in the home his entire life, until a neighbor discovered him dead there on Jan. 2.

Four truckloads of the cards were removed from the house last week. Hessian also had some valuable cards stored in a safe deposit box in an unknown location.

Hessian is survived by two cousins who are left to hunt for a will or determine who inherits the card collection.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Hessian is survived by two cousins who are left to hunt for a will or determine who inherits the card collection.

Or, who inherits what's left of the card collection after involved in the cleanup picked out their favorites.

[Brutalis]

I bet his kids don't get the money for it. I'm sure there was some loophole where some company got to keep them. That's how our country is.

[Horry For 3!]

This is good news for me.....as I have thousands and thousands of cards that are probably worth a lot. I need to find someone so I can sell my valuable cards to them.

[FromWayDowntown]

I bet his kids don't get the money for it. I'm sure there was some loophole where some company got to keep them. That's how our country is.

They were found in his home. They were his personal possessions. Under generally-recognized estate law, the cards will go to whomever he willed them to (if he had a will) or if he didn't have a will, they will be part of the estate and divided equally among his heirs. The only exception would be if he had bunches of creditors who make claims against the estate, but even then, the payments made by the estate could be made by extinguishing any cash or liquid investments, or by selling tangible real and personal property that will pay the debts. Unless he had major league debts, or unless he had no other assets (say he was renting the house and the furnishings and had no bank accounts), the cards will pass by succession (whether via will or intestacy laws).

I'm a card collector of sorts, and I'm intrigued by this guy's collection. It likely would have to be full of vintage cards in mint condition to be worth anything in the neighborhood of a million dollars, but it certainly could have a value well into the several hundred thousands of dollars, which still isn't shabby.