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The Harlan County Fiscal Court discussed an uncommon situation during a recent meeting, declaring a large collection of athletic cards in possession of the Harlan County Sheriff’s Office to be surplus and put up for auction.

Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley brought the matter before the magistrates near the end of the meeting.

“I’m going to yield to the Sheriff for the explanation,” Mosley said. “I’m asking for permission to surplus athletic collector cards and take necessary action. There’s a good explanation behind it.”

Mosley called on Harlan County Sheriff Chris Brewer to explain to the magistrates how his office came into possession of the collector cards.

“Basically, two sheriffs ago during a drug raid several collector baseball, basketball and football cards – several boxes full of them – were taken,” Brewer said. “These cards were then awarded to (The Harlan County Sheriff’s Office) when the case was adjudicated. I guess nobody has wanted to fool with them and they’re just taking up space, so I spoke to the auditor’s office and although they have already been awarded to us, we need to get them declared surplus through the court.”

Brewer explained once declared surplus, the cards would be auctioned off and the proceeds used for drug investigations.

A few people in attendance joked about the possibility of a rare valuable card being located in the collection.

“I’ve heard stories from some friends of mine who have collected cards for years and they sell particular cards and bring in a lot of money,” Mosley said jokingly. “Some of them are very valuable, so hopefully you’ve got a few of those Michael Jordan rookie cards in there.”

While certain cards do bring in a large amount of money, those cards are very rare.

“It’s amazing what people will pay for some specific cards,” Mosley said. “It’s made me want to drag out a trunk of baseball cards my grandmother bought for me when I was 10 and go through them just to see if any of those cards are in those boxes.”

Following some further discussion, Mosley asked for a motion to declare the cards surplus.