Speaking of 52 Mantles...

[wheels56]

Any views on the five that sold in the Heritage auction yesterday? One thing is obvious, vintage prices across the board are going up. Clearly, the economy is doing well.

http://sports.ha.com/c/search-result...2+topps+mantle

Given the overall level of frothiness, any of these sales look like relative bargains or vice versa?

[pokerplyr80]

I thought the SGC 70 would have went for a little more

[CW]

That's a nice, strong price for the PSA 3, although it's also a nice card for the assigned grade.

http://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball-ca...links-12202013

[MattyC]

Agreed the 3 was a real healthy price and not surprising since the card was nice for the grade.

IMO the 6 was a bit weak looking with that scuffing and it still went BANANAS.

The others had the usual woeful centering issues.

[wheels56]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Agreed the 3 was a real healthy price and not surprising since the card was nice for the grade.

IMO the 6 was a bit weak looking with that scuffing and it still went BANANAS.

The others had the usual woeful centering issues.

Yeah, I agree on the 6. The surfaces are not great, significantly impacting the eye appeal. The centering is nice, but I have a bit of a contrarian point of view in that I think centering, while important, is a bit overrated.

The 6 that sold last year for *$14K less* is WAY nicer, IMHO:

http://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball/19...a/7105-80477.s

Both 4.5s (the PSA and the SGC) are nice as well. I think they both represent decent value for the money. I'd take either of those over the SGC 5.5 any day, again, based on the surfaces.

In retrospect, I actually think the 3 might actually be the best overall value.

Other thoughts?

[MattyC]

The 6 on eBay right now is really nice. Comparing it to the Heritage 6 the asking price is very logical, too. Hits my eye like a 7 all day. For all the meh examples let alone fakes we see for sale, a nice one really stands out.