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Pre-Civil War baseball card fetches $179K at auction

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A rare pre-Civil War baseball card featuring the 1860s Brooklyn Atlantics is pictured in this undated …

(Reuters) - A rare pre-Civil War baseball card that was handed down as an heirloom within the family of a ballplayer for more than 150 years fetched $179,250 at an auction in Chicago on Thursday.

The Brooklyn Atlantics team card from around 1860 was sold at Heritage Auction’s Platinum Night Sports Auctions, which coincides with the 2015 National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago.

The auction featured a variety of collectable sports memorabilia items, including a New York Yankees game jersey worn by Mickey Mantle in 1966 that sold for $322,650 and the shoes worn by Muhammad Ali in the 1975 “Thrilla in Manila” bout against Joe Frazier.