How much do you think 52 mantle should be worth?

Volod · #1 11-03-2011, 09:00 PM

Of course, TedZ is right that the card was a big deal even in 1952. Mantle was a prized rookie and a NY Yankee, so his first Topps card, in Topps first colorized, supersized set, made it an even bigger deal. About thirty years later, when millions of 1950's kids began to recollect as the hobby exploded in the early '80's, that card again became the focus of most wantlists, whether it was warranted or not. I can recall getting back into collecting at that time and seeing the card offered in SCD in nice condition for a few hundred bucks. Just a couple of years later, it abruptly jumped into the thousands and then into the tens of thousands. So, to me, its current valuation is just a reflection of the number of collectors who surged into the hobby enmass in the 80's. Maybe the card will gradually decline in importance - and value - as those folks slowly fade away, especially since, unlike the Wagner card, there should be plentiful numbers of the Mantle card well into the future.

zljones · #2 11-03-2011, 10:03 PM

Briansruns10 that was beautifully written makes me glad I returned to this hobby last year and sold my militaria collection for cards. And even though I will not pay the asking prices for the 52 Mantle, it is still a beautiful card.

HaloFan · #3 11-03-2011, 11:17 PM

Craig---I think you make great points. I have completed the 67 Punch out set and am about done with the 67 ( scarcer than the 64s) Stand Ups. I have the two Mantle pose variations in the Punch Outs and the 67 Mantle Stand Up. I also have a set of the 67 Discs with the Mantle. All of these are much tougher than the 52 Mantle and yet I paid less for each of them than the 52s

The Punch Outs have small pictures and the discs have never been too popular, but the 67 Stand Up is a great Mantle picture. Still scarcity and lack of knowledge likely does hold down "demand"...and they are not part of an iconic set.

I do not have the 61 Dice Mantle, but have seen it sold twice for well under what a top condition 52 would get. I only have one of the Dice cards, Kaline.

I also picked up one of the Mantle Masks, listed in SCD as a 63 Topps send away. It is also really scarce ( and may not actually be a Topps product ) . I paid a lot for it, but know of one that went unsold on ebay for .99 cents due I think to to a poor description.

One of the 52 Mantles I have is ungraded, from my younger days, and might grade a 3-4. The other, which I got to get the 2nd variation is an OC 8. Almost all of my cards and sets are ungraded for album display purposes

Al--very nice.

I'm not sure the value of the '52 Mantle will drop all that much even after the older collectors are gone. There is at least one other younger person <35 on this board who acquired the card because it took him back to when he was 12 years' old and rummaging through the new Beckett to check to see its value. There are more younger admirers of Mickey Mantle then we think.

I know a girl from Mexico who when I mentioned the card, she immediately knew who Mantle was and understood its value. Granted she learned of his iconic status via Antiques Roadshow, but this shows that his legacy is not withering anytime soon.

Craig

zljones · #4 11-04-2011, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HaloFan

Craig---I think you make great points. I have completed the 67 Punch out set and am about done with the 67 ( scarcer than the 64s) Stand Ups. I have the two Mantle pose variations in the Punch Outs and the 67 Mantle Stand Up. I also have a set of the 67 Discs with the Mantle. All of these are much tougher than the 52 Mantle and yet I paid less for each of them than the 52s

The Punch Outs have small pictures and the discs have never been too popular, but the 67 Stand Up is a great Mantle picture. Still scarcity and lack of knowledge likely does hold down "demand"...and they are not part of an iconic set.

I do not have the 61 Dice Mantle, but have seen it sold twice for well under what a top condition 52 would get. I only have one of the Dice cards, Kaline.

I also picked up one of the Mantle Masks, listed in SCD as a 63 Topps send away. It is also really scarce ( and may not actually be a Topps product ) . I paid a lot for it, but know of one that went unsold on ebay for .99 cents due I think to to a poor description.

One of the 52 Mantles I have is ungraded, from my younger days, and might grade a 3-4. The other, which I got to get the 2nd variation is an OC 8. Almost all of my cards and sets are ungraded for album display purposes

Al--very nice.

I'm not sure the value of the '52 Mantle will drop all that much even after the older collectors are gone. There is at least one other younger person <35 on this board who acquired the card because it took him back to when he was 12 years' old and rummaging through the new Beckett to check to see its value. There are more younger admirers of Mickey Mantle then we think.

I know a girl from Mexico who when I mentioned the card, she immediately knew who Mantle was and understood its value. Granted she learned of his iconic status via Antiques Roadshow, but this shows that his legacy is not withering anytime soon.

Craig

You are correct I am 30 years old and I have always dreamed of having a Mickey mantle card now I own three. As long as the hobby remains in general then the love for the vintage cards will last. I am now a grown man and have a real job and can finally afford cards such as Mickey Mantle cards. I remember when I scraped up $35 in 1991 at the age of 10 and peddled on my bike to a local card shop and said to the shop owners "I want a Hank Aaron rookie card" they told me I could not afford it and instead they talked me into buying a 1962 Topps Warren Sphann. I knew nothing about Warren Sphann back then but I bought it because it was from 1962 and it was old, and the men running the store were persuasive even though I did not really want it. When I took it home my mother was furious with the baseball card shop for selling me a card I didn't know squat about. She drove me down to that shop and told the owners to give me my money back, I was actually hoping they would because I had the buyers remorse and just wanted to save up for a Hank Aaron rookie card, but they refused to refund her and I got stuck with a card that eventually got stolen from me 6 years later. I am glad that I now own a 1954 topps Hank Aaron, but see I remembered those cards that I dreamed about 20 years ago and I persued them.

Theoldprofessor · #5 11-13-2011, 03:46 PM

One of the best teaching opportunities of your life stands before you right now. When my son was about 10, we began going to the National every summer. (That was so long ago that "Beckett" meant the Beckett-Eckes Price Guide.) Pretty soon he was picking up cards, asking "What's this one worth?" "What's that one worth?" Easy. "Son, it's worth exactly what you can get for it, no more no less."

The '52 Topps Mantle is worth a lot because people are willing to pay that kind of money for a really good copy. In the Thirties, the T206 Wagner was worth about $50, because that's what people who bought cards were willing to pay for it. Now some Wagners are worth millions. What changed? The card? Nah. Just its notoriety. Its value is determined by how badly people want it and how much they are willing to sacrifice to get it.

This can't be hard to understand.

vintagecpa · #6 11-14-2011, 12:02 PM

Put me in on the side of people that think the 52 Mantle is overpriced also. However, every Mantle from the 50's and 60's is also overpriced IMO, but it is what it is.

I believe there are a fair number of non-baseball card collectors that own a T206 Wagner or a 1952 Mantle, much like a rich non-art person might buy a Picaso. I would speculate that a decent percentage of 1952 Mantle owners don't own a single other 1952 Topps card, and several probably don't own another baseball card, period. When you add these groups together, you have created a demand that justifies the current price level.

ChiefBenderForever · #7 11-14-2011, 12:42 PM

It's the postwar card of all cards, not overated at all in my opinion, $2500-3000 for a nrmt ? Add another 90k and you will be able to get one. Rare, no but high demand, yes !! Might not be his true RC but is his Topps RC and Topps is king just like T206..............

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