He Has Arrived...

[mmcgruff]

Matt,

That truly is one in a million Mickey that I have seen probably for ever! Personally I am not a fan of graded/certified cards, but that to come out in that condition is really dynamite.
Just a truly great looking 52 Mantle. I applaud you!

Rick

[MattyC]

Wanna say much thanks to all my boys here with whom I can share the Mick; we all here know how most of those in our daily spheres can't really get down with our cards and how much enjoyment they give us.

Now actually, I must come clean on one level; when I said "settle down" earlier, one of my buddies here interpreted that as me having a girlfriend but not being married. In fact, I do have a ball and chain. Actually trying to post a nice photo bucket shot of my better half here but the whole URL text string keeps coming through-- gonna fix that and find a way to share a scan of my gem mt 10 lady lol.

[Bestdj777]

Congrats on the great pickups Matt.

[MattyC]

Thx, Chris. So have you tracked down the Dice Game '61 Mantle yet?! I was just doing some reading on that beast of a Mantle. Wonder what it would fetch in this surging market.

[Bestdj777]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Thx, Chris. So have you tracked down the Dice Game '61 Mantle yet?! I was just doing some reading on that beast of a Mantle. Wonder what it would fetch in this surging market.

Haha, my understanding is that there are only two out there, and I believe they are both owned by board members. I am currently working on getting one of them to adopt me... I would imagine they would bring huge money now.

[GregC]

What is this elusive Dice Game Mantle you speak of? I just googled an image of it is a beautiful image. Such a simple card. What's the history on it?

[MattyC]

Here is what I know-- though I'm sure some here might have more accurate info...

Topps never marketed the cards of the dice game. It was more of a test product, an internal thing. What seems to support this is that almost every other Topps issue of the era used color and the surviving Dice cards were black and white. Again, not saying that as FACT. My knowledge here is limited.

I remember reading that someone at Topps named Woody Gelman was like their creative director and would issue samples and letters to established hobbyists and sometimes the card was stapled or otherwise affixed to the letter.

Rumor was there were a few sheets with 20 cards. I think Fritsch owned one of them. The one Dice Game Mick I recall for sale was raw hand-cut.

So that one had to come from a sheet, but I remember seeing another one that PSA slabbed that looked factory cut to me.

There was also a send away official Topps product called the plaque/mask and was from 63? That's also rare. I believe the Dice card is considered tougher and more valuable though. Maybe some of our big Mantle collectors can shed some more light for you.

Link to a past sale:

Dice Game Card Sold