View Single Post
  #1  
Old 04-09-2017, 01:00 AM
Timbegs Timbegs is offline
Tim B
Banned
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 126
Default 1951 Wheaties Premium Photo Mickey Mantle

I recently won this card raw in an auction (really I was just very lucky) after chasing it for the last 20 years. When you have a very small budget and collect Mickey Mantle cards, you sort of recognize that certain cards will be unattainable. You're just never going to own one; I came to grips with the fact that I'll never own a 1952 Topps 311. I'm OK with it. Maybe old and gray one day. Maybe. So that, 51 B, 52B, 69 Super in any kind of decent grade (I always felt a really nice 3 or better was good enough for me) would always elude me. Whenever I save for a high end card, something important takes that money. And I'm not complaining. This is luxurious hobby for vintage collector. At least I hope that it is. And for a number of reasons, price chief among them, I had the Wheaties rookie card on the list. A bit of a dream come true to own one and the card will ship to me Monday. The good folks at SGC will be grading what I am hoping will be their twelfth shortly there after. I have graded this card from the scans a 4 so its pretty much guaranteed to be a 3 (at best). That is a reflection on BOTH my lack of skill as a grader AND my inability to see the flaws in my own cards. Nothing more, nothing less.

So, I am and always have been absolutely fascinated by this card. The scarcity (of graded ones anyway), the only photographic picture of Mickey at such a tender age on a rookie card, and the (near) fact that this card is a nice 'photoshop' job by an artist from the 1950s who doctored a rather famous photo from the 1952 World Series by adding pinstripes and removing the background. I am aware of theories that surround the card (and the others from the set) but I have never seen definitive proof of an issue date - here or elsewhere. I searched these threads pretty well and while each theory had solid supporting evidence, I never saw a 'final verdict' on the date of issue for the set.

So I am starting this thread in the hopes of accumulating more information (total graded population, history, lure, what happened to them, recent sales - literally anything) about the card and to (hopefully) see a few - graded or raw - from those who may have one - beaters, gems, whatever you got. I'll get the ball rolling now and I'll also post the card below when it comes back graded from SGC - which, coincidentally, is when I will actually be happy. I have not made a decision as to whether or not I will sell the other items from the lot (since you'll see them, too, below) despite already receiving some nice offers from some of the good members of net54.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Mickey Mantle Lot APRIL2017.jpg (67.7 KB, 457 views)
Reply With Quote