Where have you gone, Brad Rasmussen? (A 1960 Post Mickey Mantle tale)

[brian1961]

Hi, Jim. I want to thank you for taking the time and trouble to load up Brad Rasmussen's likely school project. What a profoundly beautiful 1960 Post Cereal Mickey Mantle. I can really understand the urges you've gotten to allow the artifact to remain intact. It is so poignant to that period of time. Well I remember Miss Kaplan at Fairview Elementary School teaching me how to print. A few years later, I was indeed taught to write cursive precisely as Brad did.

Jim, your desire to remove it from its paper is also very understandable. I imagine it was attached with either Elmer's Glue or Lepage's Glue, which was really a white paste. In my opinion, the 1960 Post Cereal Mantle is truly one of Mick's most underrated, undervalued, and desirable cards. It is simply breathtaking. Its monumental size compared to most other Mantle cards puts it in a class by itself, or a cornerstone from which to build a display of outstanding Mickey Mantle cards and coins.

When I wrote my book about post-war regional / food issues, NEVER CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, I devoted chapter 2 to this set, anchored by my SGC-Authenticated specimen. Like yours, it's only missing perhaps 2 - 3% of the card due to wayward cutting by a lad doing his best, with tongue half outside of his mouth. I gave this Mickey Mantle an appropos name.

THE MAJESTIC GIANT SEQUOIA MANTLE

One small correction. The cereal Post placed its Sports Stars was not Grape Nuts; rather, it was GRAPE NUTS FLAKES. A geriatrtic cereal, it helped to keep people my age on the "go-go".

One small gold nugget of information is found on the title page of Brad Rasmussen's project----the date of Nov. 14, 1960. There has been a teenzie bit of discussion as to when these gorgeous Post Sports Stars were issued. I believed they debuted shortly after the 1960 World Series. Brad's dated document confirms my belief, and goes right along with a multi-sport set---mostly baseball, with a pair of football and a pair of basketball stars.

Whatever you do, Jim, you best choose a path leading to no regrets. If you choose to have it professionally removed, make them understand the precious card must survive completely intact. As it is now, it is quaint, nostalgic, and satuated with ambience-----PLUS VERY VALUABLE.

Wishing you wisdom and the very best. --- Brian Powell

[BioCRN]

Originally Posted by brian1961

One small gold nugget of information is found on the title page of Brad Rasmussen's project----the date of Nov. 14, 1960. There has been a teenzie bit of discussion as to when these gorgeous Post Sports Stars were issued. I believed they debuted shortly after the 1960 World Series. Brad's dated document confirms my belief, and goes right along with a multi-sport set---mostly baseball, with a football and a pair of basketball stars.

This makes some of the seemingly random stuff uploaded here so important to the community at large.

I benefited greatly from a mystery I was trying to figure out about 1930 Baguer Chocolate cards for a very long time by one of Rolando Sánchez's (Roland 49) various Cuban card posts. It was the first actually legible digital photo of a rare collector's album that I could read the name/checklist properly. It helped me make a decently strong ID of the mis-identified player in question.

[Vintagedeputy]

Originally Posted by brian1961

One small gold nugget of information is found on the title page of Brad Rasmussen's project----the date of Nov. 14, 1960. There has been a teenzie bit of discussion as to when these gorgeous Post Sports Stars were issued. I believed they debuted shortly after the 1960 World Series. Brad's dated document confirms my belief, and goes right along with a multi-sport set---mostly baseball, with a pair of football and a pair of basketball stars.

Brian - thank you for your outstanding post. There are a number of dated entries in the book; 1960, 1961. Do you think that perhaps young Brad received the Mantle in let’s say January of 1960 , and kept it intact until he decided to write the book in November….meaning that he had it before the World Series?

Originally Posted by brian1961

Whatever you do, Jim, you best choose a path leading to no regrets. If you choose to have it professionally removed, make them understand the precious card must survive completely intact. As it is now, it is quaint, nostalgic, and satuated with ambience-----PLUS VERY VALUABLE.

I plan without hesitation to send it to SGC, once I remove the paper and glue. That way it will be preserved forever in that gorgeous black tuxedo.

Regarding being valuable, I was very pleasantly surprised to see some listed for sale in the 2K to 4K range, a huge jump from my small investment.

Jim

[Mark17]

I know that with 1962 Post Cereal cards, the printing was done on paper which was then glued to the cardboard. So if you soak this, you might end up with the Mantles separating from the cereal box cardboard, and your Mantles will be thin pieces of paper.

[swarmee]

That's what I would be worried about as well. Soaking on pre-war cards is different because the composition of the item itself is different.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Would it be worthwhile to get some quotes from a couple of reputable paper conservators? If the card is that valuable, I'd definitely explore that option. If they can't do anything with it due to type of glue, they would hopefully let you know prior. It doesn't cost anything to get a quote, and it may not be that costly relative to value.

[Vintagedeputy]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I’m out of town right now but when I get back home, I’m going to take another look at it. I’m thinking that the best way to handle this would be to see if I can just simply remove the notebook paper and hope that most of the glue is on the notebook paper and not the card. Then, I can address the glue remnants on the Mantle itself. Further examination may reveal a different course of action though so stay tuned!