Old Wheaties Box

Q: My old Wheaties box is intact and has eight sports cards printed on it, including football players Otto Graham and Johnny Lujack and baseball star Stan Musial. Can you tell me when the box was originally sold and what it’s worth? And where should I try to sell it?

A: Your old cereal box was on store shelves in 1952. Boxes were sold that year with a total of 60 different trading cards of 30 athletes. The athletes were shown in both portrait and action poses, and the images are in Wheaties colors—blue and white on an orange background. You were smart never to cut the cards. An uncut box is more valuable than the eight cut cards printed on the box. Depending on the identity of the other athletes pictured on your box, the box could sell for more than $100, perhaps a lot more. Your box is a crossover collectible, but it would be worth more to a sport collector than to an advertising or cereal-box collector. You would probably get the best price by selling it at an auction that specializes in sports memorabilia.