Mantle rare magnet base Hartland Statue
I am an advanced Hartland statues collector. Not many people know that early in the production of the statues there was a very rare subset of magnetic statues issued. Only 11 of 18 were issued with magnets attached to the bottom of the players feet.
Of course Mickey was one. I just picked up a duplicate which is only the fourth one I have ever seen in all my 60 years of collecting Hartland's. In the late 50's when these first came out car dashboards were metal. Hartland issued these to be used that way. But in case you didn't want them on your dashboard they also included a metal base with a hole drilled in it so you could mount the base with a screw to other surfaces.
From time to time you may find statues with magnets on the bottom but without the base. The bases are actually rarer than the statues. Much like the Berra Hartland, you will see tons of them but seldom does it still have the original mask that was issued with Yogi. Too easy to lose over the years.
The same with the magnet base. Hartland also issued a smaller statue known as the Minor Leaguer on a card. See attached where you can see the mention of mounting them on the dashboard of your car. Thought you all would enjoy seeing and knowing about this rare Mantle piece.
I also picked up a Musial and Ruth with magnets and bases and a Fox without the base.
Sorry photos are so large and turned sideways. Hopefully someone can fix it for this old man who is not computer literate!
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Fr3d mcKi3
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