Saco River Auction Co. in Biddeford, Maine will soon host an auction which will be filled with 1,400 rare and valuable tobacco baseball cards dated from 1909 to 1911. An unidentified man took up smoking over a century ago and handed the cards he accumulated from the habit down to his descendants, who are now planning to sell the collection.

Auction attendees will have the opportunity to bid on cards which bear the faces of several of baseball’s most legendary players; 10 cards depict Cy Young, a dozen depict Ty Cobb, and cards featuring other Hall of Famers like Chief Bender, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson will also be included.

Troy Thibodeau, the manager and auctioneer at Saco River Auction Co., said the collection of cards belongs to the grandchildren of a Brooklyn, New York-born man who began smoking when he was 19.

“Every time he got a card, he threw it in a box,” said Thibodeau.

These cards are notably smaller than modern baseball cards, and are commonly known as “T206” cards to collectors. They feature color lithographs on the front and a tobacco advertisement on the back.

“They’re not like your normal baseball card where there’s a stock piece of photography that’s printed on millions and millions of cards. These are truly pieces of art. They’re colorful, they’re bright, they’re folky, they’re Americana. If you love baseball, this is the beginning of it. This is where stars were made and heroes were born. It’s history.”

The advertisements on the back of the cards prove that the collector preferred Havana cigarette brand El Principe De Gales, but some of the cards feature logos from other cigarette brands of the era such as American Beauty, Sweet Caporal, Sovereign and Piedmont. The collection is being called the “Portland trove,” due to several of the collector’s descendants residing in Maine’s largest city.

The cards were graded and deemed “incredible” by Scott Hileman from New Jersey-based SportsCard Guaranty, and Thibodeau is expecting some of the cards to reach five figures each.