311 Mantle - which would you rather have?

[raulus]

Originally Posted by tiger8mush

maybe it's an optical illusion but with the two back photos next to each other, the one on the right appears shorter top to bottom than the one on the left.

I noticed that too, which confused me a bit. I wonder if the back printing area was slightly different between Type 1 and Type 2?

[G1911]

The Red line above "Major and minor league batting records..." is printed shorter on the top example.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by G1911

The Red line above "Major and minor league batting records..." is printed shorter on the top example.

I think the big red box at the top of the back is what is throwing me off.

And I think you're right that the red box is shorter on one version than on the other as well.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by raulus

I think the big red box at the top of the back is what is throwing me off.

And I think you're right that the red box is shorter on one version than on the other as well.

There's a lot of little differences like this on the 2 types that never get talked about or listed publicly when discussing them. I hadn't noticed before but the red bio box does appear to be printed slightly longer on the second example here as well.

It's probably a me thing, but I haven't ever understood why Topps went to such effort when DP'ing a card. Into the 70's Topps continued to evidently design many DP'd cards twice leading to slight variations, rather than just copying the same design work. Obviously they wouldn't care about creating a variant back then, but it seems to my printing and graphic-design-uneducated-ass be a lot more work to do it this way.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by G1911

There's a lot of little differences like this on the 2 types that never get talked about or listed publicly when discussing them. I hadn't noticed before but the red bio box does appear to be printed slightly longer on the second example here as well.

It's probably a me thing, but I haven't ever understood why Topps went to such effort when DP'ing a card. Into the 70's Topps continued to evidently design many DP'd cards twice leading to slight variations, rather than just copying the same design work. Obviously they wouldn't care about creating a variant back then, but it seems to my printing and graphic-design-uneducated-ass be a lot more work to do it this way.

Someone must have explained this somewhere. Levi Bleam almost certainly would know, as he has a special affinity for this card and its history, but others on the forum as well. The no line under the Yankees box on the second variation is especially strange to me although of course it makes them easy to spot.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by raulus

I noticed that too, which confused me a bit. I wonder if the back printing area was slightly different between Type 1 and Type 2?

Yes, there's a bunch of tiny differences in both black and red.

[Johnny630]

Strictly off these two 1952 Topps Mickey Mantles, it’s Type II top version for me, hands down.

[ClementeFanOh]

Two beautiful Mount Rushmore cards, everyone wins with these:

1) I prefer the Type 2 of these examples

2) I think the Type 1 will fetch the premium

3) Is the greater premium "appropriate"? If that means "deserved", then
the proper answer is that it's up to the competitors. We shall see.

I'd love to own the "second place" card

Trent King

[raulus]

Since the responses appear to be slowing down to a trickle, for anyone who hasn’t already figured it out on their own by digging around at the various auction sites, I guess I’ll reveal that the first example is in a PSA 7 holder, and the second is in a PSA 8 holder.

And if you want them badly enough, there’s still a few weeks left to bid in the auction.

Disclaimer: I don’t own a 311 Mantle, so this wasn’t an attempt to drive bids to my item. But they did seem so similar that it seemed like it would be good fun to see which one was favored by the group. And now we know!

[BobC]

Originally Posted by raulus

Since the responses appear to be slowing down to a trickle, for anyone who hasn’t already figured it out on their own by digging around at the various auction sites, I guess I’ll reveal that the first example is in a PSA 7 holder, and the second is in a PSA 8 holder.

And if you want them badly enough, there’s still a few weeks left to bid in the auction.

Disclaimer: I don’t own a 311 Mantle, so this wasn’t an attempt to drive bids to my item. But they did seem so similar that it seemed like it would be good fun to see which one was favored by the group. And now we know!

Interesting, I thought from the scans you posted that there might have been some more surface/printing imperfection issues with the top/#1 card, but expected the centering issues to override that. I don't send anything in for grading, and therefore don't pay attention to and keep track of which TPG is currently more centering obsessed.

For the minions in the hobby that don't follow and live by the "Buy the card and not the holder!" mantra, that means my original guess as to these Mantle's hammer prices is likely backwards. Oh well, just another reason to be glad I'm not so obsessed with grading then.

[raulus]

ICYMI, the PSA 7 sold above the estimate at $468k.

https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball-c.../50059-56369.s

And the PSA 8 sold below the estimate at $1.47M.

https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball-c.../50059-56370.s