[brian1961]

[QUOTE=Stonepony;1694525]My White Whale and the new centerpiece of my Mantle collection.


Congratulations, Dave. That is a honey of a Briggs Mickey Mantle!

In my heart of hearts, your specimen deserves an "upper deck" numerical grade from PSA. Briggs made no attempt to define the borders on its cards, except their beautiful deep red background as the basic color of its package. In 1953-54, it wasn't supposed to be that big a deal--just cut the card out, kid!!!!!

Now, the cut IS the big deal.

If the original owner who cut the card did the good job I'm seeing, why just authenticate it?*!@#! I mean, here's an extremely rare and very attractive Mickey Mantle once-free prize now worth 5 figures. You would think PSA would give the card a lot more thought than "AUTHENTIC". As it is, each AUTHENTIC card (involving any set where the cards are "hand-cut") must be meticulously scrutinized on a card-by-card basis. With the advanced scanning technology employed by the better auction houses, this is accomplished.

I can further articulate my irritation, but this is not the time. Dave, your Briggs if flat out beautiful. A dream Mantle due to its regal rarity, having the heart of Bob Olen's perfect rookie portrait of our Mick Charles. Thank you for sharing your joy, bro. Well done.

I hope you enjoy my book, too. It's impossible for me to know if my Briggs chapter will enhance your knowledge of the set, but I know for certain your fondness and respect for the entire promotion should take a quantum leap! Obviously, winning and now receiving Mickey has given you a sigh of relief, and a major rush of happiness and thrill at owning one of those rare Briggs babies. Or, I should say, THE rare Briggs baby! The others are all cool and desirable, but Mick remains the key.

----Brian Powell