Whats it worth? Here is a nicely centered and presentable albeit low-grade example of the most famous Topps baseball card ever produced, the 1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle high-number, graded PSA 1 Poor but presenting closer to a VG-EX 4 or EX 5 except for its creases. No other baseball card in the hobby has generated more demand and continually higher prices than this card, nor has any other major card been as commonly misunderstood. An iconic issue recognizable to even non-baseball enthusiasts, most people incorrectly identify it as Mantles rookie card, which is a logical assumption given its immense fame. But Mantles official rookie card is his 1951 Bowman issue, and the 1952 Topps card is famous, if not infamous, for quite another reason. Playing catch-up to intense consumer demand for its groundbreaking 1952 baseball cards all summer long, the final 6th Series, or what have now become known as the high-numbers, didnt hit store shelves until very late in the 1952 MLB season. After the Yankees took care of the Dodgers for their record fourth consecutive World Series title, the cards then didnt budge. Stacks of cases of the product--the stuff of dreams--stood on display in Woolworths and in other stores around the country, largely untouched, at least until the majority were returned to The Topps Companys Brooklyn warehouse, where they then sat collecting dust for the next decade. As legendary Topps baseball card man Sy Berger tells T.S OConnell in an interview posted on blowoutcards, debunking what even some hobbyists had believed was a myth, “I couldn’t give them away. So we said let’s get rid of them. We decided to dump them in the ocean. They were put in boxes. It took three garbage trucks. I would say 300-500 cases. All high series of 1952 Topps. I found a friend of mine who had a garbage scow and we loaded the three trucks-worth on the barge. I was out there with it. Opposite Atlantic Highlands, a few miles out. And that was the end of it. Whoever thought that they would have the kind of value that they would have?” What kind of value, indeed! Although it looks to have once resided for a time between bike spokes, the offered copy is one of hardly more than 1,000 examples known to PSA, and it will still fetch several thousand dollars at auction despite its condition. And if you think thats impressive, then consider recent sales at the opposite end of the grading spectrum. Although none of the 31 existing PSA 8s have sold publicly over the last two years, rumors are that a couple of copies recently traded hands for over $200,000 each, while one of the two existing PSA 8.5 NM-MT+ copies sold last summer for $272,550. One of six existing PSA Mint 9s sold back in 2006 for $282,588, but most hobbyists agree that in todays aggressive market, those half-dozen PSA Mint 9s would fetch at least twice that, perhaps even as high as $1 million, while any of the three existing Gem Mint 10 examples would most likely top $1 million and perhaps fetch closer to $2 million, putting them on par with the famous PSA 8 T206 Wagner, which brought $2.8 million the last time it sold.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 23:48:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015