What are your top 5 Mickey Mantle cards?

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Brian---you won't get any arguments from me. All I meant to point out was that I know a couple of people on the board who have the Dice card. One also has the 63 Mantle Mask, another tough item, even though I assume anybody collecting Topps cards that year could have gotten one.

I do not collect Mantle per se, or test issues per se. I originally did all Topps sets, packs, insert sets and issued test sets. Now I fool with unissued Topps test sets and variations. Some are indeed rare. The Dice are one. The 66 Punch Outs another. The 71 Rookie Artist's Proofs another. The 70 Cloth another. These last 3, in my experience, may be tougher, or at least as tough as the 61 Dice. So too might the 3 unissued 1951 Current All Stars that just sold in Legendary. The 68 Discs and 56 Hocus Focus are tough too. Then there are those 3 1960 proof cards......

By the way, thanks for your insights on these great hobby items

Dear Al, I apologize if I sounded too argumentative, though as most collectors, we feel strongly about certain things. Honestly Al, it is frustrating that with all of the huge growth in the value of the various assortment of Topps products, the company has not taken the trouble to document their respective histories, while providing some insight, print numbers, where they were distributed/sold and so on. I do believe such a book would sell nicely, even today. It would not make the New York Times bestseller list, but the hobby would welcome it with open arms.

Alas, I don't think it will happen. Bill Haber was only 53 when he passed away in the early 1990s. Besides the huge loss to his family, I think he would have been a prime candidate to write such a book. At this point, I sadly feel Sy Berger is probably too aged to recall such minute details, although sometimes these are the very things older people can recall vivid details of, though perhaps not the exact numbers.

I love the Topps Current All-Stars of Konstanty, Roberts, and Stanky. I do not own them, but feel they most assuredly cannot be whisked under the carpet. They truly are part of the set, looking precisely as the others. I wish I knew the truth behind why Topps did not include them. A very few got out. They are worth a fortune, or at least five figures each.

Now as for the 1966 or 1967 Topps Giant All-Stars, if they were sold at the Brooklyn candy shops, they are a legitimate test issue. Maybe they are not as graphically compelling, as cards go, but they have a nice dramatic aura to them with their black surrounding area. This gives each card a shadow box affect, which enhances their visual appeal. I have never owned one, but I sure acknowledge their rarity, and anyone who owns a specimen of any player can feel justifiably proud of this collecting achievement.

Furthermore, with a giant head against a black background, they would make a terrific visual display in a portfolio of Topps test issues, or a collection of a particular player.

My fifteen cents--as usual. --Brian Powell