A rare baseball card found inside a piano sold at auction for a massive $185,000

The rare baseball card fetched a whopping sale price at auction. Photo / Beckett Goodwin Auctions

A rare baseball card that was found in an old piano has sold for $130,053 ($196,000NZD).

Maryland resident Ellen Kelly bought a piano once owned by her aunt Nora at a 1992 estate sale, 25 years after her aunt's death in 1969.

After purchasing the 100-year-old piano for $US25 ($37NZD), Kelly noticed a pedal was sticking and had it repaired.

It turns out, there was a M101-4 Babe Ruth rookie card from 1916 hidden within the piano which would end up making her a lot richer.

The card of the baseball legend was discovered along with 110 other cards, which were kept in top-notch condition within a particular hidey-hole of the piano.

It allowed the Ruth card to fetch the whopping six-figure price at a Beckett Goodwin online auction last month.

"Best $25 I ever spent," Kelly told Sports Collectors Daily.

The sale set the record for Ruth rookie cards graded in the same collection.

"I don't see the vintage collectables market slowing down," Jeromy Murray, vice-president of Beckett Grading, told Forbes.

"Stories like this Ruth card energise people. I promise you that hundreds of people slung open their old pianos once they heard about this Ruth story just hoping they might find a hidden gem. It might sound crazy, but stories like this change people's lives."

According to Beckett Goodwin website, the card only became valuable in recent years.

"Until recently, the Ruth M101-4 rookie card, in its many variations, received little respect from the hobby's elite, veteran vintage card collectors and even investors and speculators," Beckett Goodwin says on its website.

"At long last, Babe Ruth's rookie card now stands at the precipice of becoming the Ruth of sports collectables — a relic for the ages. If ever a museum-worthy sports antiquity existed, it would be Ruth's major league rookie card."

The remaining 110 cards found in the piano were sold in a separate auction as one lot for $6648NZD.