1956 mantle purchase. Now ?

[larietrope]

I've always wanted a good 56 Mantle as a cornerstone to my collection. Is now a good or not so good to be looking ?

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by larietrope

I've always wanted a good 56 Mantle as a cornerstone to my collection. Is now a good or not so good to be looking ?

If you've always wanted one as a cornerstone to your collection anytime is a good time. What you pay for it is immaterial to the joy you will get from owning it. Don't make the mistake of settling for a lesser card to save a few bucks, you'll be disappointed. Good luck in the hunt!

[Hxcmilkshake]

2 yrs ago was a much better time lol but just get one they are fun

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[JollyElm]

People keep talking about the coming 'baseball card market correction,' but there's never been a Mantle market correction. His cards always keep going up, up, up in price (sure, some contrarian will bring up certain exceptions, but I'm talking overall Mantle pricing). Think back only a year or two (hell, even just two MONTHS ago) to the 'crazy' prices people were charging for their Mantles on eBay. Today, every single one of us would immediately jump at those prices and hit 'Buy It Now,' because his values have soared into the ionosphere. Just some of the high prices that various Mantles have sold for recently in the B/S/T here had me shocked. Yowza!!

I'm not suggesting you do anything stupid and completely overpay for the '56 you have your eye on, but I just don't see his prices coming down either. The Mantle elevator only goes one way...up. My two cents.

[MikeGarcia]

[QUOTE=JollyElm;2112998]People keep talking about the coming 'baseball card market correction,' but there's never been a Mantle market correction. His cards always keep going up, up, up in price (sure, some contrarian will bring up certain exceptions, but I'm talking overall Mantle pricing). Think back only a year or two (hell, even just two MONTHS ago) to the 'crazy' prices people were charging for their Mantles on eBay. Today, every single one of us would immediately jump at those prices and hit 'Buy It Now,' because his values have soared into the ionosphere. Just some of the high prices that various Mantles have sold for recently in the B/S/T here had me shocked. Yowza!!
''..

..A night or two ago a Mantle '57 " , BVG 4 " (with no subgrades) which was OC side-to-side 95-05 went at E-Bay auction for over $500.......madness

..

[DJCollector1]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

People keep talking about the coming 'baseball card market correction,' but there's never been a Mantle market correction. His cards always keep going up, up, up in price (sure, some contrarian will bring up certain exceptions, but I'm talking overall Mantle pricing). Think back only a year or two (hell, even just two MONTHS ago) to the 'crazy' prices people were charging for their Mantles on eBay. Today, every single one of us would immediately jump at those prices and hit 'Buy It Now,' because his values have soared into the ionosphere. Just some of the high prices that various Mantles have sold for recently in the B/S/T here had me shocked. Yowza!!

I'm not suggesting you do anything stupid and completely overpay for the '56 you have your eye on, but I just don't see his prices coming down either. The Mantle elevator only goes one way...up. My two cents.

Agree with this 100%. One of the more serious "Mantle collectors" (Matty) on this board mentioned something a year or so ago, and its even more true now.
He said something along the lines of "Mantle is as about as blue chip as one can get. Almost every time you sell any high eye appeal Mantle, you almost always regret it down the road, since to "get it back" you have to pay a premium, and they virtually never go down.

True, some of the naysayers will point to specific cards or the overall market declining a bit..... but the simple fact is Mickey Mantle transcends the market. There are a handful of others that are similar, and a good modern day example is Trout. (Babe Ruth is another example, but I think the big surge the last year or so really put his prices where they should have been all along)

I bought a very strong centered/high eye appeal '57 Mick for $400 like 3 years ago. I just sold it recently on the BST for $2100 , and I likely could have gotten more had I waited or tried to negotiate a better offer.

I really hated to do it, but some life problems left me with no choice other than to move some of my bigger cards. I sold 3 Mantle cards, the '57, a '66 and a BVG 5 '64. ALL THREE had exceptional eye appeal for the grades, and they brought premiums accordingly.

To all the guys who bought any from me (and I sold a few higher end Clementes as well) I hope you enjoy the cards as much as I did. I hated to let them go, but it is what it is. Cards will always be there, but "life problems" unfortunately take precedence on occasion.
Now its time to start rebuilding my small collection, and the Mantle cards are the ones I will have the most trouble replacing.... for 2 reasons.

A - The Mantle collectors are a fierce bunch, and any and all "high eye appeal" Mantle's are snapped up in short order on places like Ebay etc. Even the low grade, but centered high eye appeal bring very strong prices. So just "opting for a nice PSA 4-5" isn't enough, you can still expect to pay a premium unless you truly find a diamond in the rough or get lucky.

B- The prices are just unreal. I was out of cards for many years, and the amounts Mantle alone bring have skyrocketed even in that short time frame of the last 5 years or so.

Sell any visually strong Mantle at your own peril. You will almost certainly regret it down the road..... and replacing them is a real bitch.

[Vegas Cards]

I sold a '56 PSA 4 thinking I'd upgrade the card and almost immediately regretted it. Prices seemed to jump every time I looked. Finally paid up for a PSA 6 at a recent auction. I paid much more than I had planned to, but I'm glad to have this card back in my collection.

My guess is if you don't do it and wait, you'll regret it and end up paying more eventually.

Happy Hunting!

[Jdoggs]

Nice 56 mantle

[Kutcher55]

Very nice looking Mick.

[Gorditadogg]

I have a bunch of Mantles and I follow the market pretty closely. I think his cards have softened up quite a bit over the last month. I would say prices are down 20% since April.

I don't really know what that means over the next few months but if you are looking to buy, now is a better time than it was a couple months ago.

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[MattyC]

DJ thanks for the shout out. I agree and would add that when collecting Mantles (and for that matter any cards these days), one has to parse “centered eye appealing” specimens from the others. The former really do behave according to their own set of pricing rules— namely competition will be stiff and expect to pay accordingly to bring the card home. I’ve taken my collection into signed Mantles lately and this holds there as well. As an example, I won a centered eye appealing signed 58 in REA in 2020 for 5450. A slightly lesser looking specimen just sold at a legitimate AH for over $10,000.

As to selling, almost every time I’ve sold a nice Mantle here, it’s wound up with an eye appeal sticker at PWCC and went for 2x/3x what I sold it for LOL. Lesson learned

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by MattyC

DJ thanks for the shout out. I agree and would add that when collecting Mantles (and for that matter any cards these days), one has to parse “centered eye appealing” specimens from the others. The former really do behave according to their own set of pricing rules— namely competition will be stiff and expect to pay accordingly to bring the card home. I’ve taken my collection into signed Mantles lately and this holds there as well. As an example, I won a centered eye appealing signed 58 in REA in 2020 for 5450. A slightly lesser looking specimen just sold at a legitimate AH for over $10,000.

As to selling, almost every time I’ve sold a nice Mantle here, it’s wound up with an eye appeal sticker at PWCC and went for 2x/3x what I sold it for LOL. Lesson learned

Eye appeal/centering > grade 100% of the time.

[jchcollins]

I had been meaning to upgrade the '56 Mantle from my childhood collection literally for decades, and finally got around to it last year. I went from an SGC A to an SGC 4 - and in the time since then, the value on the 4 has at least doubled from what I paid.

If you are thinking about buying or upgrading Mantle cards, I would agree there is no time like the present. The market may have it's ups and downs, but nice looking Mantle cards are always going to be blue chips.

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

I had been meaning to upgrade the '56 Mantle from my childhood collection literally for decades, and finally got around to it last year. I went from an SGC A to an SGC 4 - and in the time since then, the value on the 4 has at least doubled from what I paid.

If you are thinking about buying or upgrading Mantle cards, I would agree there is no time like the present. The market may have it's ups and downs, but nice looking Mantle cards are always going to be blue chips.

Your card is a good example. A year ago an average 56T Mantle gray back PSA 4 sold for about $800. A really nice one cost you $1200. By January the market had bumped to $1200/$2000. At its peak in April it was $2100/$3000. The last two PSA 4 sales, at the end of May, were about $1700, down 20% from the top of the market.

So yeah, from $800 a year ago to $1700 today, the prices on 56T Mantles have doubled. But there is a correction going on, and I am not sure that we are done yet.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Gorditadogg

Your card is a good example. A year ago an average 56T Mantle gray back PSA 4 sold for about $800. A really nice one cost you $1200. By January the market had bumped to $1200/$2000. At its peak in April it was $2100/$3000. The last two PSA 4 sales, at the end of May, were about $1700, down 20% from the top of the market.

So yeah, from $800 a year ago to $1700 today, the prices on 56T Mantles have doubled. But there is a correction going on, and I am not sure that we are done yet.

Right. I wouldn't be surprised if that card settles some. But I doubt it's going back to $800.