A pristine batch of unused Euro 96 match tickets have become a source of great intrigue after being inadvertently unearthed in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
The spool of tickets, one for each of the 31 matches played at the 1996 European Championship tournament, was discovered in a suitcase.
Ahead of #WorldCup2018, a Stoke-on-Trent man has found an unused set of Euro '96 tickets in an old suitcase! #football https://t.co/Tlyb7kAMoA pic.twitter.com/mhqnHhcPzp
— Matt Simpson (@Matt1988S) April 30, 2018
Ranging from group stage matches to the final at Wembley, the total cost of the tickets at the time would have been £1,680.
The anonymous owner of the tickets has admitted that he only realised exactly what the tickets were once he'd taken the case to be valued at a local auction house.
"They were in a case that housed my grandad's old cigarette cards. My mum had the case for years and then gave it to me about 10 years ago," he told the Stoke Sentinel. "It was actually the cigarette cards that I took along for valuation."
Alistair Lofley, football expert at Hansons Auctioneers in Derby, has confirmed that the tickets are genuine and all issued under the name "Ben Edwards," though it's uncertain who that might be.
"I have seen the odd ticket from Euro '96 before but never an entire set like this. It's a mystery," he said. "Perhaps they were a competition prize or given to a member of the FA?"
Given that many matches were played in different cities on the same day, it's unlikely that Mr Edwards actually intended to attend every single fixture.
Either way, the perplexing job lot is now scheduled to go under the hammer at Hansons in early May.