How much should I spend on a 1952 topps psa 1 Mantle?

[vic84]

I'm in the hunt for mantle RC and seems like the psa 1 and below is all I can afford. How much should I pay on a psa 1 ? I seen a lot but all are different prices.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by vic84

I'm in the hunt for mantle RC and seems like the psa 1 and below is all I can afford. How much should I pay on a psa 1 ? I seen a lot but all are different prices.

When buying a PSA 1 it really depends on eye appeal so the prices will vary a lot. A 1 could look like it went through the washer/dryer or could look like a 5 but have damage on the back and they would command very different prices. Good luck on your search.

[vic84]

Thanks for the info

[pawpawdiv9]

Good luck in your search, i seen some fugly ones and some decent ones...but eye appeal can probably cost north of 7500 i expect, and some of those ugly ones are even asking that and up to 9-10k, but dont sell on Ebay. You might have a good chance at better quality ones, that are Auth, but altered. But thats your choice to decide.
Hunt had one that eneded yesterday that was very nice, but had a very small re-glue damage on the number on the reverese, but it looked nice for 5,445.00 bid
http://huntauctions.com/phone/imagev...=137&lot_num=3
Now is that something you like???

[Brianruns10]

In these types of situations, I like Card Target. It aggregates sales data for cards sold on ebay, and the various auction sites, and more often than not has photos as well, so you can compare price trends, by grade, and within those grades see which cards fetched higher prices. I find it tremendously helpful when I'm trying to decide how much over SMR I want to pay when I'm bidding on a particularly well centered example of any given card.

[Bestdj777]

Originally Posted by Brianruns10

In these types of situations, I like Card Target. It aggregates sales data for cards sold on ebay, and the various auction sites, and more often than not has photos as well, so you can compare price trends, by grade, and within those grades see which cards fetched higher prices. I find it tremendously helpful when I'm trying to decide how much over SMR I want to pay when I'm bidding on a particularly well centered example of any given card.

Agreed. Just note that this particular card has seen a bit of a price increase over the last year when looking at any of the older data/price points on there.

Personally, I'm a fan of the authentic examples and paid more for my authentic example than I did for my PSA 1 given the much better eye appeal.

[vic84]

Nice pics ...Yea there is one on Ebay a PSA1 that I can get for 9400 but that's too much I ..Ill just sit and wait to snatch one at a better price...Is SGC 10 poor 1 worth the money?

[MattyC]

All depends on the card in question and its eye appeal. Within any grade there can be huge price differences.

[ls7plus]

I understand the urge to own a '52 Topps Mantle, but please, please don't call it his rookie. That card is in the 1951 Bowman set!

Regards,

Larry

[pokerplyr80]

I would think you could find a decent looking psa or sgc 1 in the 7-8k range and a not so decent looking one in the 5-6k range.

[ALR-bishop]

Originally Posted by ls7plus

I understand the urge to own a '52 Topps Mantle, but please, please don't call it his rookie. That card is in the 1951 Bowman set!

Regards,

Larry

Call it whatever you want. You would have company either way....and it annoys the Bowman guys . If you want to be politically correct you can call it his Topps rookie card and the Bowman his "real" rookie card, or, go for both cards and then be indifferent to this recurring discussion

Good luck in your quest

[begsu1013]

Originally Posted by vic84

I'm in the hunt for mantle RC and seems like the psa 1 and below is all I can afford. How much should I pay on a psa 1 ? I seen a lot but all are different prices.

psa 1s can be had for $900 - $2500 depending on eye appeal, of course im talking about the rc you referenced and the 51 bowman. a much better looking card in my opinion and you're not really paying for the hype.

[KCRfan1]

Originally Posted by begsu1013

psa 1s can be had for $900 - $2500 depending on eye appeal, of course im talking about the rc you referenced and the 51 bowman. a much better looking card in my opinion and you're not really paying for the hype.

But will the savings between the Bowman compared to Topps translate into better returns in the future? The prices for the 52 Topps Mantle continue to go up, can the same be said for the 51 Bowman and expect that card to keep pace with Mantles Topps card? I'm not sure the hype behind the 52 Topps Mantle will ever go away, really don't see much hype behind the Bowman card though. ROI for the Topps card seems greater than the Bowman card. Or am I missing something?

[begsu1013]

i wasn't clear that he was buying for investment purposes.

as for investment purposes though, we have to establish time frames here for a proper debate...

we talking 6 months or are we talking 10 years?

and we are only talking about psa 1's, correct?

do psa A's count as psa 1s? they do on the registry...

and then are we talking ROI in percentages or are we talking dollars?

are we establishing the overall risk of the investment? $2K is a much easier hit vs $20K.


not only that, I can not say w/ any certainty that we are in a bubble on the 52. some can argue that fairly easily.

as a owner, i certainly hope the strong prices continue to rise.

however, as a buyer i sure hope they plummet.

i'm honestly good either way.

and one good asteroid could make the whole thing moot, anyways.

[KCRfan1]

Bob, I'm not sure he's buying for investment purposes, but I think it needs to be taken into account as part of the decision process.

[begsu1013]

Originally Posted by KCRfan1

Bob, I'm not sure he's buying for investment purposes, but I think it needs to be taken into account as part of the decision process.

lou,

I agree 100% and wholeheartedly. but i think we all have certain cards in our collection that we paid well over the norm because of certain sentimental reasons behind that particular card/year/player and the avg price/investment side wasn't really of concern.

i also think there's been a little more focus by collectors on the actual card these days vs the actual flip. which is a good thing, imo.

we are seeing nice 52 4's selling for $35K+ and crap 5s still not breaking $30K, however a few years ago it'd almost be taboo to pay more for any 4 than what a 5 had previously sold for.