Quote:
Originally Posted by JustinD
TIt was also Mantle, so kids would have held tighter to a player like this in comparison to a Joe shablotnik.
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Because the Mantle would have been handled so much, more odds in my opinion that they were either lost to time or are now extremely worn beaters.
Bottom line, no one knows, yet one thing I can offer for certain to the discussion is that there are indeed many phantoms in the pop reports. I personally know many guys who have cracked or crossed over the card. Yes, it was very valuable in whatever holder it originally sat in, but the profit motive tied to the next bump up is incentive enough for many to play that game. In fact, there are many Mantle cards that have been graded several times per card, inflating the population. By how much precisely, again, impossible to say.
I only go by the population reports, because they are the only actual data (however flawed by crackouts and crossovers) that we have. People's opinions on what is out there raw can just vary so wildly. Plus, there is no telling when or if raw cards will be found and brought to grading-- and this is definitely a card the risk averse will want to buy graded. So rather than waiting for Godot, I gotta go with what is known.
One last thing I can say for certain is that precious few examples of the Mantle have no tilt and good centering. For the collector who abhors tilt and likes centering, the card poses a challenge that is belied by the sheer pop numbers.