GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Western Michigan farm family scored big while cleaning out an old farmhouse.

Lou Brown, president of Legends Sports & Games inside Woodland Mall in Kentwood, Mich. said the family was going through items in a farmhouse of a deceased relative when they came across a notebook of vintage boxing and football cards. He said the family, who prefers to remain anonymous, thought about throwing away the notebook, but instead did some research and found that they had some rare cards in the collection.

One of the 38 cards in the collection is Harvard’s John Dunlop football card. The card is considered “anonymous” because Dunlop’s name is not printed on it. The Dunlop card was issued by the Mayo Tobacco Works of Richmond, Va., in 1894. It is considered the rarest football set ever distributed as well as the only 19th Century set entirely dedicated to football. The Dunlop card is the rarest of all football cards in existence, much like the Honus Wagner card is to baseball.

“It’s the ‘Holy Grail’ of football cards,” Brown said. “There’s only in the range of 15 known to exist.”

Brown said it’s kind of amazing that the cards made it to his store instead of just getting tossed in the trash.

“Not only did this family find them, but they figured out what they had – especially the Dunlop card,” he said. “They said they set the cards aside and later searched online and found that the football cards were quite valuable and that the Dunlop card was in there.”

Brown said the Mayo cards were 35-card sets featuring football, baseball and boxing athletes from Harvard, Yale and Princeton. He has had the boxing and baseball cards before, but this is the first time he has had the football cards.

“This is a rarest card I’ve had,” Brown said of the Dunlop card. Brown has been in business at the mall since 1988 and has been selling cards at shows since 1978. “I’ve handled enough of the Mayos to know it was real.”

The Dunlop card is in good shape, but at some time it was trimmed, reducing its height. Brown estimates the value of the card at $10,000. However, he said “the value depends,” based on what collectors are looking for. It is set to go to an online and catalog auction by Robert Edward Auctions in May. “The card is a little bit short. Somebody at some point trimmed off part of it,” Brown said. “It looks great, but it’s short.”

He said because the cards were in a notebook, the fronts are well preserved – not showing a lot of the cracks or wear marks that cards tend to get when they are handled. “There is some back damage from when they took it out of the notebook,” he said, “but the front is in excellent shape.”

Many of the cards are consigned to the store, including a John L. Sullivan, who was considered one of the greatest boxers of all time. They are being assessed for value and may be submitted for auction in the future.

For additional details, visit Legends Sports and Games on the Internet at www.legendssportsandgames.com