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Permalink Reply by michelle on December 21, 2015 at 9:16am

Why is it so expensive cos its quite a small picture.  I am brushing up on my (ummm) hugh Mantle knowledge.......

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Permalink Reply by James on December 21, 2015 at 9:43am

Yes, baseball cards are very small pictures indeed, actually measuring only 2.5" x 3.5" in size, I believe. The thing that makes it so valuable is its rarity coupled a bit with Mickey Mantle's popularity.

There is a very limited supply of Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps cards that are still in existence. Topps is the company that produced the cards, BTW. I can't remember the whole story, but I think, first of all, not all that many were initially produced, and then, many were lost or destroyed.

So with the supply already being low, a "PSA 8" card is one that is in near mint to mint condition. So it is in almost new-like condition.

PSA actually keeps a population count of how many PSA 8s are in existence. And the number of cards in this great condition is very low. Therefore, the rarity makes this card very, very valuable.

Mantle is an iconic sports star in the USA, and this card is one of the most famous, iconic cards in the baseball card collecting hobby. It's nearly the holy grail of baseball cards.

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Permalink Reply by James on December 21, 2015 at 10:38am

That sure is a whole lot of money for a small piece of cardboard, though, isn't it? Lol. Oh, it sure would be nice to be able drop half a mil so easily. I just think of all the autographs I could buy with money like that!

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Lee on December 21, 2015 at 6:06pm

Hi James and Michelle.  Yes, I read the same story a few different times too.  When Topps first came out with their first issue, the 1952 set, they felt that they made too many of them so they had them put on a ship and they literally dropped the cases out in the middle of the ocean, as weird as it sounds.  Not the 1st or 2nd time I've heard it this way...definitely has made the Mantle card one valuable collector's card, that's for sure.  I can't tell you how many times I wish I knew where those cases were dropped....I'd get my diving gear today.....lol.  big rookie card collector here, I just had a 1.5 that's went for over $4500.  PWCC brings a much higher dollar amount than most do at the hammer, and he's brings the biggest bang for the buck on all sports cards, but was my eBay consignor for a couple of the down years back in 2008-2011 with my signed memorabilia, but that didn't go so well.  cards always seem to hold their price but I'm still waiting for my sports memorabilia to go back up to where it was before the crash of 2008 - I had a nice signed Ruth ball I sold for just over $22K back in 2007, and now I'm seeing the same go for just about half that  :o(   sold it just in time I reckon.  Probstein123 is another consignor I use now and he does well on cards too, and will also get a nice hammer price for your autographs if you consign them to him..  he now has over 1/4 of a million feedback.  great guy out of NJ.

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Permalink Reply by James on December 22, 2015 at 12:02am

Yes, Christopher, it's true that the crash of 2008 really put a dent, at least temporarily, in the value of autographs. It just seemed as though, during hard times, people decided that autograph were something they could live without. So the demand for autographs during the "Great Recession" dropped rapidly, thus dropping prices. It has been taking time for those values to rebound. Autographs sometimes seem to operate like stocks.

As for that 1952 Topps Mantle, I'm almost positive that I had one as a 10 or 11yo. I got a huge box of old 1950s baseball cards from my uncle and aunt. This was the mid-to-late seventies, and they were just going to throw them in the trash. But they offered them to me instead. This box contained probably close to 500 cards. I remember there being several Mantles in the box, along with many other stars. I remember for sure I had four Hank Aaron rookie cards. Well, I ended up selling them so I could get money to buy a moped! I sold that whole box to a dealer for I think about $150. I don't know for sure if that 52 Topps was in there, but I really think there was at least one in there.

Oh, man. That was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made. In reality, the moped may have cost me about half a million dollars. Now that was one expensive bike!

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Permalink Reply by Terry G. on December 22, 2015 at 6:51pm

Authenticated, graded Mantle rookies have always held great value. The guy was THE iconic star in the sport for well over a decade in the biggest market in the world. The card has taken on this mythology in the sportscard market, although I wouldn't call it even close to being a holy grail- you can find Mantle rookies pretty much any day of the week. The issues with the Mantle rookie that make it more valuable are actually this: 1) it is the most counterfeited rookie card ever. So much so that people will pay thousands more to get an authenticated one because some of the fakes were done very well. 2) Condition is king with cards, and as the most popular player of his generation, many of his cards got beat up and wore from handling by kids. Collectors will pay extra for better condition although subjective- I've seen off-center Mantle rookies sell for over $5k.

3) The mythology that the '52 set is difficult to build. It's not, it's just expensive (see #2). Even though Topps dumped many, that was stock that hadn't hit the market- the regular print run did indeed hit the stores and was widely available for purchase. The dump only assured there would not be an overabundance, similar to the late 80s/early 90s Topps releases. '52 Topps singles are out there, just costly to put together as a set.

4) The market for Mantles is now showing signs of evening off, after years of growth. The generations who idolized him are now hitting retirement and not buying, but selling their hordes, which will only drop value long-term. It's scary because he drove the market for so long, and there isn't anyone who can carry his jock to steady the market. Many dealers have turned to Michael Jordan as a savior...there will always be high-end specimens like this one that go for big bucks but it doesn't speak for the overall market, IMO.

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Permalink Reply by James on December 22, 2015 at 7:09pm

Great read. Great information, Terry. #4 is a particularly important consideration for anyone thinking of buying one of these cards.

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