any guess on how many 52 mantles exist??

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

the real question is how many 'psa7-8' level ungraded copies are there out there.

paying 7000 for a card and there being 50 more of them out there is one thing

but paying 150k-400k and finding out there are 50 more more of them like that out there is another

It seems to me Jake has identified the most crucial question in this discussion. There might be "a ton" of ungraded 1952 Topps Mantles, but come on, do you really think their technical grades would come out that high? Remember all those stories you've heard in your life about someone saying, "I'm sure it will grade MINT, or at the very least "NEAR MINT - MINT". Then it's graded by PSA or SGC and ....

Not to re-route this discussion one whit, but there was the most staggering exception that occurred some time last year. PSA's Joe Orlando put up a scan in his "Joe's Tweets" of a card that had just come through their grading mill---the second PSA 10 GEM MINT 1953 Topps #82 Mickey Mantle. To think that significant card had been a heretofore unique 1 of 1 for over 20 years, and now a still minuscule 1 of 2. The pair are nevertheless extremely valuable, and with a POP of only 2 at that level, the price point is still stratospheric. Be that as it may, I would imagine when the owner of the first '53 Gem Mint Mick saw Joe's Tweet, it was not "sweet" news to him.

Even the most crusty dinosaurs who have a "nice" ungraded '52 Topps Mickey will have had to have noticed the boo coo bucks being earned by other owners of said card ALL involved professionally-graded specimens. If they refuse to acknowledge the obvious, let's hope for their sake they do not wait until death or dementia overtakes them. At least with the Lucky 7 Ty Cobb find, there was a very happy ending for the family of the original owner of the cards. "Twas not always the case ....

---Brian Powell