Craig---I think you make great points. I have completed the 67 Punch out set and am about done with the 67 ( scarcer than the 64s) Stand Ups. I have the two Mantle pose variations in the Punch Outs and the 67 Mantle Stand Up. I also have a set of the 67 Discs with the Mantle. All of these are much tougher than the 52 Mantle and yet I paid less for each of them than the 52s
The Punch Outs have small pictures and the discs have never been too popular, but the 67 Stand Up is a great Mantle picture. Still scarcity and lack of knowledge likely does hold down "demand"...and they are not part of an iconic set.
I do not have the 61 Dice Mantle, but have seen it sold twice for well under what a top condition 52 would get. I only have one of the Dice cards, Kaline.
I also picked up one of the Mantle Masks, listed in SCD as a 63 Topps send away. It is also really scarce ( and may not actually be a Topps product ) . I paid a lot for it, but know of one that went unsold on ebay for .99 cents due I think to to a poor description.
One of the 52 Mantles I have is ungraded, from my younger days, and might grade a 3-4. The other, which I got to get the 2nd variation is an OC 8. Almost all of my cards and sets are ungraded for album display purposes
Al--very nice.
I'm not sure the value of the '52 Mantle will drop all that much even after the older collectors are gone. There is at least one other younger person <35 on this board who acquired the card because it took him back to when he was 12 years' old and rummaging through the new Beckett to check to see its value. There are more younger admirers of Mickey Mantle then we think.
I know a girl from Mexico who when I mentioned the card, she immediately knew who Mantle was and understood its value. Granted she learned of his iconic status via Antiques Roadshow, but this shows that his legacy is not withering anytime soon.
Craig
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