Interesting addendum.

Heard through the grapevine that originally, this card was sent to psa to be slabbed. Psa came back and said it would be graded a 9. Card was not slabbed and was then sent to Sgc for grading.

Mantle Card
 

Jay - You & I certainly agree that overall “eye appeal” should rule versus a “numbers game”. Unfortunately, when it comes to extremely low pop/highest graded iconic cards, the “numbers” steal the show and nothing is ever going to change that notion.

Regarding the $12.6 million figure, I think it borders on insanity to think that number is a so-called disappointment. To the best of my knowledge, the recent $7.25 million private sale of an SGC 2 T206 Wagner was the previous highest recorded sports memorabilia sale. The $12.6 million figure is a 74% increase over that Wagner sale, a mind-blowing spike and certainly a huge boost to an already red-hot sports card market. Every hobbyist should be celebrating this sale. It is truly a landmark event that may transcend the hobby to another level.

Could be true. No psa 9.5 grades.

Can you point me to the thread?

Grade shopping. More than one person told me after the auction went live that the card was informally looked at by PSA and it was loosely stated it would likely be an 8. Based on the pics I think 8 is too harsh so not stating I was lied to but the hearsay might not be accurate. I would have gotten a 6 but Heritage has to at least get an 8.5.

I agree with you 100%. Thousands of people will die this winter because they can't afford gas or heating oil or electricity and will freeze to death and some guy spends millions on a friggin baseball card. I wonder if he gives a shit about them. I will guess he does not. The priorities of things has gone to hell.

I'll take the minority view here. I am one of the ole timey "scrooges" who laments the fact that the hobby I love has turned into investment property. The more cards go up the less likely it is true collectors who care about the game and the sets will ever be able to attain them.

i think the buyer has every right to spend their money however they want and it likely was a good "investment." I just long for the days without some third party assigning a number to your treasure that determines its worth. I know I am a dinosaur and the ship is sailed but thats how I feel.

Interesting take and probably worthy of its own thread but wealth disparity in this country is far from new.

+1

It was off center, tilted and cut off on the back...with a coffee stain on the top. As I recall, for 12.6 M:D..AND yes, worth every penny.;)

I heard it was pregraded as a 4.5 due to centering, tilting and the coffee stain on top

Heritage allows people to send offers to winners of cards from their auctions. For the Mantle, it suggests an offer of $18.9 million or more. Nothing like a $6 million return on investment in 3 days, before you even have the card you just won in hand.

The winning price is indeed awesome, but .....
 

The winning price is indeed awesome, but if the right object comes along.....

Around May 19, 2022, for the first time ever, a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SLR Uhlenhaut coupe was offered at auction by the Mercedes-Menz museum to fund a scholarship program for their future budding engineers. Heretofore, that "priceless" car, one of only two built and both ensconsed by Mercedes in their museum, was not for sale at any price.

So, it went on the auction block in Europe, and sold for an astronomical record for a motor car----$143,000,000.

As I said, the right object, in impeccable condition, with a beauty, integrity, and history that's off the charts, will reinvent expensive.

These kind of things are never cheaper by the dozen. A dozen were never made. In our card world, the right set, with a fascinating history, and distilled down to among the highest graded Mickey Mantles, of which less than a dozen exist (sure, at one time there were many dozens of them made, but not today, particularly since most were soaked in the deep.....)---the creme of the creme will draw the well-fixed interested buyers and pay....gladly.

--- Brian Powell

If the (3) current PSA 10's were cracked out and resubmitted raw, likely no chance any of them get a 10 with current grading standards either. They were all graded many years ago with less stringent standards.

This is an important consideration. And I think this also gets at the heart of one of the big issues with TPGs...lack of consistency.

There was lots of chatter in the last year about how PSA has really tightened up their standards for giving out a PSA 10. Which is why "buy the card, not the flip" has always been such a prevalent mantra. The problem is, a large portion of the market, especially in the higher end stuff, is obsessed with the grade, as seen with the grade shopping and crossover attempts.

My suspicion is that if you bought 10 copies of a card in one grade, say, a PSA 9, and you re-submitted all 10 of those in the same order, cracked out of their slabs, you would not get back the same results.

Well, the answer is not here, it is at the ballot box.

Meanwhile, I personally would not have paid that for the card. I'd rather have a nice midgrade card and a beach house in Malibu. There's more to life than baseball cards

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi.../caligirls.jpg

Or so I have heard. After 27 years of marriage, I have no friggin' idea.

I think it depends who is submitting them but over time grading standards have overall gotten tougher. Presently, tougher is an understatement. I think the grading scale is now 1 to 7 on vintage and 6 to 9 on shine.

I am not sure how I feel about how a slight tilt on a card from an issue that is prone to severe tilts should impact the 10 consideration. If the card is "perfect" otherwise can you really put it in the 9 holder?

Adam, I think it may be time for you to update your signature line if you really believe this. :)

The card went for 2.6 million over the target price about 10 million.

I understand the various feelings (good, bad, ugly) regarding the final price. Change happens and our hobby is no longer the way it used to be. Investment is now a motive perhaps more than anything else.

Lets assume the card went for 2.6 million under the 10 million estimate = 7.4 million final total. Interesting to contemplate the reactions if that had happened.

Rare art is really just some paint on a canvas. Do we knock the current market and what someone is willing to pay? A Ferrari is just a car with fancier sheet metal and motor. Do we knock what one is willing to pay? A baseball card is just cardboard with a players picture, should we knock what one is willing to pay? A rich person paying mega bucks for a 15 bedroom mansion ... you get the point.

On the one hand it sucks for us regular folks who can no longer afford what we used to buy. But on the other hand, the stuff we do have is now worth way more. Aw, jeez. It is what it is. Overall, I lean toward this Mantle sale as generally good for the hobby.

Steve Parmentier

Well since I don't have the money or the beach house, my comments are purely aspirational, while my tag line is realistic.

How come no winner has come forward?

Are we sure Heritage didn't win this? Aren't they allowed to bid in their auctions? Did they hit it one too many times?

Maybe they're still in shock after coming to the realization that they just spent 12 million dollars on a baseball card.

Sgc will go to 11!

Some dude with a backward ball cap, a three day beard, sneakers shorts and a tshirt definitely should be all over social media with this by now.

Steve Cohen purchasing it would be an interesting twist.

Very Good Point/They Can Bid on their Items ….Does Someone Have Sour Grapes ?? I’m Shocked to see this being offered up on their site as a for-sale offer price now.

So many haters on this site. Two guys (maybe this thread or another) are calling the guy heartless and blaming people freezing without electricity on whoever bought this card. Shoeless Moe is doubting its a real a sale because the winner is not all over the media -- why does the buyer need to announce himself? Other people have already decided its a forgone conclusion that this card will be flipped in 6 months to 2 years for profit. Why do you assume this, and even if its true, what's wrong with that?

Someone purchased an amazing example of a top 2 iconic baseball card. They had the money, and they paid up for it. Why are they cold/heartless, or seeking attention, or looking to make a quick buck? Why such negativity toward a record-breaking sale and the guy (or girl) who bought it? And remember, there was at least one bona fide under-bidder here, and likely several more above $10mm.

Sincere congratulations to whoever bought the SGC 9.5 Mantle. If I had the money, I would have been an active bidder. I think its an amazing card and I think this sale is good for cards and the industry.

I think I must have missed the heartless post. Some are speculating it is to flip for a profit down the line because they spent $12,000,000 on a baseball card and that is what ends up happening with most 52 Mantles, they are bought and sold for a profit later down the line, and that profit is not a surprise. That isn't inherently bad, but it is. Most people spending $12,000,000 on a collectible care very deeply about it's value and believe it will rise.

Some expect the winner to be disclosed because that is what is usually done and the norm for huge sales like this; it becomes public knowledge. Heritage publicly discloses, and situates themselves in a place where it is legal too, bid in their own auctions and run items up often leading to speculation that they night have done what they say they can do and have done.


Disclaimers:

I do not care who bought it, and I do not care if Heritage got it on a shill bid. I do not care that someone chose to spend their $12,000,000 in this manner. Good for them. I hope they are happy. I don't need their name.

The 1952 Topps Mantle is a nice card and Mickey Mantle was a great player. This copy is a nice copy.

A “nice card” and a “nice copy.” Or, put another way, the most iconic post-war card in the hobby and one of the best of its kind. These are where I don’t think I’m taking a position. I’ll go so bold as to say those are both objective facts.

I must've missed that comment. Do you have a link?

I agree, except that I would not have been a bidder even if I had the money. Maybe save the venom for the real villains of the world. Like the Joker or the Riddler.

With all the vitriol being flung his way, I would not be surprised if the winner never makes his or her name public.

Yes he and Kendrick could do a side by side before a game.

Post #56 above (real tough to find)

"Thousands of people will die this winter because they can't afford gas or heating oil or electricity and will freeze to death and some guy spends millions on a friggin baseball card. I wonder if he gives a shit about them. I will guess he does not. The priorities of things has gone to hell."

This comment doesn't say what you claimed. Where does the writer blame the Mantle winner for people freezing to death?

Not sure if you were joking or not, but Derek Grady works for Heritage, and he is the one who had to decide where to send the Mantle for grading (on the seller's behalf). He used to be the head grader at SGC for some number of years. He also knew PSA wouldn't give it a 10, and he didn't want it in a PSA 9 holder because he thought it was nicer than all the PSA 9s and two of the 10s.

👍 👍

Yes, that's why I used the smiley. But thank you for spelling it out, probably not as widely known as I assumed.

Perhaps you should actually try reading members' comments before you start railing against them as "haters". (I guess it's "real tough to read"!)

Self-edited (see prior comment immediately below). Some people really get my goat. But ultimately it’s better to use the “block member” function than to cuss on a public forum.

I always appreciate when someone is willing to show who they really are. :)

I get that people are excited about record sales that could help produce profits on big cards or even middle cards as publicity is great, but the repeated hyperbole, misreading of anything not serving this purpose as hating, and more is extreme in these threads on this card.

Disclaimer: The 52 Mantle is a great card. Mabtle was a great player. I like it and I like him. This copy presents well. I hope all of you make tons of cash from your cards.

Misreads a post and uses that misreading to criticize people. Responds by cussing out the person who points this out and is factually correct.

What is it about this card that makes people go crazy? It’s a unique phenomenon.

Yeah agree it drives people crazy - like I can’t figure out why you seriously spend time to go out of your way to hate on it. It’s the most iconic post-war card. Accept that fact and move in with it and you’ll be happier. Your pop and non rc arguments against the card are a bit like yogi’s no on ever goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.

In my opinion, the large sums of money which typically trade hands these days when the card is bought/sold.

Quite a few people here remember a time when a lower grade '52 Mantle was somewhat attainable. That ship has now sailed for many of us. Some people get on with their lives. For others, it continues to grind their gears.

To me, it underscores an often valid maxim; the worst regrets we have in life revolve around things we didn't do.

Yep, I should have bought that card when I had the chance. I didn't. Oh, well.

I have sold many cards I should have kept, but by far the bigger regrets are the ones not purchased.

Actually I don't think it is just this card. I think it is certain people. I think long gone are the days where collecting cards was a hobby. Sure in 52 it was a hobby. Maybe even until the early 80s. In a short time it became an industry and there are a lot of people who have a lot of money invested. And that figure is all relative based on one's economic status. Either way, it has certainly brought out a great deal of sensitivity and shown sides of people that might not otherwise have been seen.

It is too bad that now we can now reduce fighting and unprovoked off base aggression to cards. Maybe those who keep coming unglued should take a time out and catch their collective and collector breaths. Someone's Sun was wrecked and now we got two collectors whose entire Tuesdays have been decimated due to a discussion over a baseball card. Really?

Many people love collectibles. And some people in the world become excessively wealthy. Therefore, it's easy to have a marketplace where the prices for the most prized collectibles get incredibly high.

This is not anything new. Priorities are not "going to hell" all of a sudden. It's just how one part of the planet's economy has always functioned.

And the buyer might even have a big philanthropic side as well; there's no way of knowing (at least not yet) if he's the Mr. Burns that you guys want to assume.

But regardless, it's so pointless and unhealthy to let wealthy people spending their $ on an asset bother you so much.

I agree with you and the evolution into a investment area and ego measuring contest. This card in particular seems to being out the worst though. Even threads about the trimmed Wagner don’t have such deranged fury as these do. When a Wagner or a Ruth sells for a ton of money, it’s a fairly benign thread. The Mantle seems to bring out the hair trigger tempers that just cannot take any hint of a different opinion that isn’t about pumping up the market through the roof without flipping out. Can’t wait for the next person to go nuts over an inconvenient fact.

If you want to be really bothered about money that could have helped needy people being wasted, look at some of the line items in reports on waste in the federal budget. One Mantle card is chump change. Now, back to cards.

+1