Selling 80% of your collection for ‘52 Mantle - would you?
 

I am toying with an idea of liquidating a large % of my collection to try and build enough of a kitty to buy my first ‘52 Mantle.

Even with that, the best I can probably afford would be a reasonably decent eye appeal 1.5….

Have other Net54ers ever done anything like this? Happy you did? Or filled with post transaction regret??

I’d love to hear your stories and/or your advice… sell most of your PC to add the hobby’s most iconic card?

Thx all

Jeff

Nope.

I have sold my entire collection of good but assorted non focused cards. It was a diverse collection of vintage cards from CJ cards, to T206, t205, m101-4/5 , Felix Mendelssohn etc for 1 card.
I was tired of missing out on some of the rarer or higher bucket list cards I wanted because it was all tied up in my total collection. And I could not raise funds to get the dream cards/bucket list I wanted.
Made the choice and sold, traded etc and worked my way up to purchasing my Rookie Ruth. Then had only 1 and since then slowly building up my collection with more focused to the cards I really wanted. Takes lonelier but I find this approach is perfect for me.

I echo this succinct response. Although I would enjoy looking at a ‘52 Topps Mantle, I’d miss looking at all the cards that I sold to obtain it way more than the enjoyment.

I could sell 200% of my collection, it would not even buy the holder.

Gotta pass.

Butch

Absolutely not

Yes, I've done this. I had a 522 set of T206. I sold all of my binder cards (about 450 cards) and a Cobb Red/ Lenox SGC 2. I only kept my back runs, My Cub HOFs, and a few of the biggest stars in the set. I bought a Cobb/ Cobb back. I never tried to rebuild the set, either. I just went off and collected other cards that I liked. I have fewer than 200 cards today, but I much prefer the ones that I still have.



Edited to add: To be clear, the cards that I sold only covered 1/3 of the cost of the Cobb. The rest came from savings and a 401K loan.

I would in a heartbeat. I've toyed with the idea but I have a massive room of crap. I would need some baller to just come over and clear out 50k worth. Otherwise its a long and tedious process for me.

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Never.

I prefer one great card to a lot of good cards.

If you are asking as a collector, which I assume, no, I think you will regret it.

A collection is comprised of a group of things, so if you dump it all for a single card, then you would no longer be a collector, but a 'specificor.' A valuable card is great, but at what (literal and figurative) cost?

I would not. I prefer a quantity of cards rather than one expensive card.

This is something I have also put some serious thought into.

I was thinking of selling and trading the majority of my cards to end up with 3 big cards. For me it would be a T206 Red Cobb with an Old Mill back, 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle, and 1952 Eddie Mathews.

I have had the Cobb and Mathews before. The Cobb had a Piedmont back so didn't mind selling it. The Eddie Mathews is one of the very few cards I wish I wouldn't have got rid of.

So yes I would do it.

No 1.5’s are still too inflated due to the Covid Boom. Let it cool for a while and reconsider. In the meantime save up so you don’t have to sell a large part of your collection. Do not get sidetracked buying stuff in the meantime, keep your money in your pocket and keep saving.

That’s the best piece of advice I can give on this particular question.

I second that emotion...

Selling 80% assumes you keep a decent chunk of your favorite cards and still get your dream card.

Do it!

You get your dream card and can chase other smaller ones you've sold from there.

No I would not. I like what I have and do not sell..

Unless you have to sell the top 80% and not the bottom 80%.

How attached are you to the 80% that you would have to sell?

Is it just random stuff accumulated over the years that you mostly ignore anyway?

Personally, I rarely pick up stuff on a whim, so everything has an important and cherished place in my collection. And everything else is already for sale.

Since the pieces in my collection are integral to my collection and near and dear to my heart, I would be loath to part with them.

Add to it the fact that while I appreciate the 311 Mantle (DP) as a nice piece, it just doesn't get me excited like it seems to do for others. Nothing against the card itself, but for the prices they command, both in the absolute, and relative to other collectibles in the hobby, it's just not for me.

So there's really no way on God's green earth that I would consider doing it.

If you want the Mantle badly and this is the only way to get it, then go for it.

As an aside, I wonder how many people on this thread that say no, also said no on Don’s thread where he wanted feedback on purchasing the m101-4 Wagner (and alternatively, how many yes and yes)

Get the Mantle and enjoy owning one of the hobby’s most iconic cards.

Nope - but its worth noting that everything I collect is with a purpose. I have no superfluous cards that dont fit my collecting goals, so getting rid of any part of my collection is a significant step backwards to my overall goals and no single card is worth the sacrifice.

I can see the mindset of owning a major card knowing that its temporary, I'd eventually flip it and start anew at a later day (with hopefully more money).

There are many amazing cards to own which arent huge dollars. I'd rather spread my limited funds across a number of cards than only ever only own 1 or a few cards that consumed my ability to collect.

I would consider doing something like that for the right card. For me that would not be a '52 Mantle, but if it will make you happy, that's main thing. I would probably also consider the replaceability of the cards you would have to get rid of, if you might ever want to obtain them again.

Although you may find a nice eye appeal for the grade 1.5, it is still only a 1.5.

How much do you like looking at nice cards (6-8 grades)? How much do you enjoy looking at 1.5's?

And how much enjoyment would you get from the 1.5 considering there are a lot out there of lower grade. How much enjoyment would you get from a different card knowing it is truly rare.

While I like it quite a bit, I don't like it enough to gut my collection to obtain one. And, honestly, I would rather have a '51 Bowman Mick. I have always liked that card, but everyone is different.

If I had a lot of cards that I didn’t pull out and look at often, I would definitely sell the bulk of my collection to buy one of the iconic cards of all time.

I would much rather have a small collection of maybe my fifty favorite cards than a bunch of stuff that sits in drawers.

Personally, I don't give a rat's ass about the numbers on slabs; I am just interested in the cards in the slabs.

I want to supplement my answer: i considered the OP's exact scenario several years ago and decided that I get more enjoyment from my Festival of Bric-a-Brac than I would from a Mantle sitting in my safe deposit box. Aa an investor, I would prefer the Mantle.

Like Don's thread, I don't have enough information to advise you, and lacking information, I would say for you, no.

I would not sell 80% of what I have put together since the mid 1970's to buy a 1952 Topps Mantle in SGC 1.5.

Would I sell $20,000 worth of cards to buy a 52T Mantle? yes.

I thought Don meant he was meeting up at a Denny's parking lot with a duffle bag of cash to exchange with a craigs-lister for a T206 Demmitt with a Polar Bear back. I didn't know he was buying a Sporting News Wagner from an online retail Baseball Card dealer like 707 or whatever it was.

Especially if you are sort of new, say a 5 year old collection, feel free to start over. I'm too old to start over.

That's the great thing about this hobby - collect what you like. Everybody doesn't have to collect the same things. I suppose some folks don't care about the grade on the slab. A lot of folks do. Not always, but the lower grade stuff tends to not look as nice as the higher grade stuff.

Selling every sport card and collectible of mine would not be close enough to buy a 52 Mantle.

Not the question you asked
 

But thinking about it from the flip side, if I had a 311 Mantle (any condition), would I sell it right now?

And for me, the answer is definitely yes. And I would use the proceeds to buy lots of other stuff that I really want instead.

So many thoughtful and thought provoking feedback - thx to all!

Just to add some context, if the math works out, I would be keeping my top cards (Ruth, Gehrig, Aaron, Cobb, etc) but would have to sell everything else.

As one collector friend mentioned to me, I could them build the collection back up over the next 10 years.

Still quite undecided but I’ve never seriously even considered - until now… maybe!

Jeff

I like the idea. Less is more sometimes.

I pretty much only collect Mantle and Judge cards. Ten years ago, when I had roughly fifty Mickey Mantle cards, I tried to liquidate my collection to buy a 52 Topps. Couldn’t get a high enough offer for the cards to justify parting with them at that time. So, I just went ahead and bought two 52 Mantle cards (later sold one to buy a house). At that time in collecting, none of my cards had a ton of sentimental meaning and none were particularly rare, so it made sense to try to get one meaningful card.

In retrospect, I do really wish I’d gone ahead and parted with the cards then and just stocked up on 52 Mantles as I think I would have enjoyed having 5 or 6 of them over a bunch of lower value cards. Such is life.

Do what makes you happy. But think hard about whether that is one or many cards.

Yes, I am clueless... what's the cost for a Mantle as described in the original post?

No brainer if you get to keep your top 20% cards, that's a prudent move.

It's when you have to sell your precious to get that card that you have to have a long conversation with yourself. Is there a card like that for me?

That'd be the 1914 Texas Tommy Joe Jackson.

I'd rather have a Luka orange green blue refractor jersey patch shoelace card numbered to 50.

Yes

Hell no.

To frame it another way. If you're a fan of the game, depending on where you cut off on the modern side, there are probably 20-25 indispensable players IMO. If I were in your position, I'd much rather have all or most of the 20-25 than have 5 of them plus the 311. It's a great card but I would not want it to the exclusion of the other all time greats. Now if the sole purpose is to "invest," the analysis may be different.

I probably could sell ...slowly...80 percent of my collection and buy a 52 Mantle. But I don't know what grade. While I know what Mantles sell for (it's all we hear about), I couldn't tell you what I'd get for my cards. I likely could name my most valuable 50 or so but don't have a clear idea what they would be worth.

That's because I never could sell them. I got them as a kid or over time because I was building toward collection goals. They mean something to me.

It would be nice to have that Mantle. And a Wagner. And Ruth rookie. But if I end up with only 406 of the 52 set and 520 of The Monster while also taking the family on vacations and helping pay for my grandkids' sports teams, that will be a fine way to remember my time in the hobby.

That said... I think about the option every once in a while. Then I realize I'd be pursuing someone else's collecting goal, not mine.

Good luck in the decision.

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I would probably do it if it was the only reasonable way I could attain a grail card. Let's say your current collection is 20 great HOF cards in low-to-mid grade that sell for about $2500/ea. You can hold on to 4 of your favorites and liquidate or trade the others for $40,000 in spending cash. You then scour the internet for the best deal you can find on the 1952 Mantle. As time passes, you can set aside funds and buy back the cards you let go as you save up, one by one.

By contrast, you keep holding your 20 cards and pass on the Mantle. You start setting aside some money and are very disciplined, not spending any of your savings in the hopes of acquiring the Mantle down the road. Not knowing your specific financial situation, let's assume it would take you a few years or longer to save up $40K in discretionary funds to make the purchase. Unfortunately, there is the very real possibility that the Mantle will continue to appreciate, leaving you in a race against the market to see if you can ever catch up and acquire the dream card.

Nope

Every time I’ve thought about it,
I always said to myself na, I would rather have a Cobb or Ruth,
Or Mathewson young Johnson, or a rare back.
But if your selling mostly 1950s cards and up.
I would say go for it.
It would probably make sense to me to sell or trade off my 1950s and up, and buy more of the older cards I like, and perhaps a 52 mantle, but I would probably be happier with more older rarer stuff and no mantle

Hi Jeff, I did something very similar a couple years ago. Sold maybe 30-40% of my collection to pick up the best low grade 52T #311 that I could find. The nice thing about that is that it also allowed me to focus my collection a bit more. The cards I sold I haven't missed and since then I've just been picking up cards that fit in my collection more. I am happy that I did it!

https://i.postimg.cc/LszvBKB6/353808813.jpg

Wow! Showing me that a 1.5 can look as great as yours does make this decision a wee bit more likely!

I did a trade at the National in AC for a 52 Mantle PSA 2. I traded 13 cards, mostly vintage, for the Mantle.

I ended up selling the card a couple months later as I picked up 52 Mantle PSA 2.5.




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+1000 on that. It isn't even a good looking card. It and the 53 look like childish cartoons. And it's just one card. Frankly, for the life of me, I do not, cannot and will not EVER understand why it's so effing valuable. I CAN understand why a Honus Wagner t206 is.

But there I go again, ranting and raving over something that isn't even rational.

If you happen to own a little farm ground around Dubuque Iowa sell say 10 acres = $306,000

Farm ground sold around Dubuque 59.32 A $30,600/ A= 1 Million eight (average farm land values in Iowa range from $12,000 Acre to the sky's the limit? )

**********in retrospect definitely go for the Mantle if you can--MOO******

I don't think I would do it
 

While the idea of liquidating a bunch of cards to get a really big pickup, like the '52T Mantle, or any other big card may be tempting... I don't think I could do it.

I've spent 38 years working very slowly on the T206 set and many 1950s-1970s sets, plus adding to my HOF collection. Over 95% of my collection is raw/ungraded cards too just because I prefer them that way. So selling them may require getting a bunch graded to help maximize the return... so that would take time and upfront $.

There are so many great players. I would like to have cards of all of those great players, versus one (or even a few) high valued cards of a much fewer number of players.

Yes most of those other cards could be replaced over time. Maybe in collection 2.0 I could re-focus and target higher eye appeal cards or whatever. It would take a long time though... probably not 38 years... but several years at least. And some of the cards, while not rare are irreplaceable because they are tied to the memories of purchasing them (my first Mantle - a '65T bought back in the last 1980s) or getting them autographed in person (Willie Mays '69T, Richie Ashburn '52T, etc.).

Good luck on it if you decide to do it though!

I like the process of upgrading and concentrating, but with less than 200 cards today, I wouldn't sell 80% for a grail.

I would do it.

80% of a collection is going to mean different things for most board members. If you’re able to keep the top 20% like you said, I think it’s a no brainer.

Good luck, hope you get what you want

-Don


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It was an IHOP which I figured was a bit more classy! And most of it was rolls of quarters

-Don


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I wouldn't do it for a 52 Mantle because I've never liked that card and consider it grossly overvalued. :p

But with that being said I have sold a chunk of items a few times to buy a rare/expensive piece that I wouldn't normally buy and have had ZERO regrets.

There's 2-3 items that come to mind right now where if they became available I'd happily sell up to 80% of my collection to acquire them. For me it's always quality over quantity.

Seven years ago, I sold off the cards from my Yankee Topps team binder (contained all but the 52 Mantle) and bought a PSA 1.5. Mantle. My reasoning was simple, as much as I enjoyed my Yankee binder, all of the cards in this binder were duplicates as I already had all of these cards in my completed Topps sets. The only Topps set I had not completed at that time was the 52 set. I knew if I wanted to finish the set, the Mantle hurdle would need to be cleared....after that card, the rest of the set was downhill and I now enjoy looking at my Yankee cards from my sets instead of my team specific binder. If your scenario involves feeling you won't miss the cards you sell, go for it.

52 Mantle
 

I did it years ago for a high grade 52 Mantle so it all depends on what you are giving up?

go for it!
I did it back in 2012 (before the boom)
(psa 2 mk- my avatar)

I personally appreciate the biographies of far too many other players and get a little tired of constantly hearing about the big names. If it was me, I wouldn't even consider it. I've heard enough about Mantle to last ten lifetimes.

I would sell my entire collection and purchase 10 cards. What those cards are doesn’t matter but I’d be hard pressed to own just one.
That day is soon approaching

Lots of different opinions here as there should be.

It really comes down to everyone’s individual collection and situation. If the pile of cards making up the 80 percent to sell doesn’t bring as much enjoyment as the grail would then go for it! There’s no one size fits all method of collecting. Do whatever your gut tells you to do, whatever will be more enjoyable for you!

Whenever I’ve sold cards or traded multiple to go for a bigger card I really wanted I’ve never regretted it, but I also collect sets and couldn’t part with my core sets. Everyone has different tastes and goals so like the fictional Babe Ruth says in Sandlot, “Follow your heart kid, you’ll never go wrong.”

To be fair, as the auction that got that card graded for the consignor, that may be a once in a lifetime 1.5 It also sold for a significant amount more than a normal 1.5, as could be expected.

For a 1.5, no. If it was higher grade, I would consider it.

Also, here's my 1.5. I could care less about technical grades. Love the eye appeal on mine with a nicely placed pin hole at top of the cap, likely by the original child owner!

Sounds like a good deal. Congrats on the Wagner.

---

To answer Fred's question, I guessed 20K, but prices vary based on condition without regard to the technical grade.

One thing to think about is that the card will be available when you are ready to spend for it.

Here's part of the problem with waiting for a high profile card: prices tend to outpace inflation. This is what $23,000 looks like in Mantle World

https://d1w8cc2yygc27j.cloudfront.ne...2945988217.jpg

$28,800

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/c...3/images/1.jpg

$35,000

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...antle%201.jpeg

Is the card going to drop over the longer term? Has it ever in the last 40+ years? Has anyone who bought and kept this card for a decade ever lost money? If I'd bought a lower grade one 14 years ago, it was five grand.

It seems like just the other day, but those examples were $1500 on eBay in the early 2000's. Red Cobbs and 21 exhibit Ruths were under 1k back then is my recollection.

This is the comp I was using. July 2021. Outdated, I guess, 22k all in.

The Mantle isn’t for me, but I effectively traded my entire collection for one card.

I had been looking for a few months for anything from a PSA 1-2. For sure, most 1/1.5 did not have the same eye appeal. But it can be done! :)
Best of luck on your search if you end up moving forward on your Mantle quest.

I'm still happy with the purchase. :)

That Mantle is a beauty for a 1.5

Great pickup Sean. A CJ Joe Jackson with the color popping

So long ago this seemed like such a risk!

Too hard to answer for anyone else. If you're a new collector and really want the Mantle, maybe? If you have any really rare and irreplaceable cards, probably not.

For me I don't have any interest in the Mantle but I have traded for or sold things to buy a few cards in a similar value range. It seems to me if you can't think about it and come to a decision, then it's probably a no?

I love that it went to a collector!

I want to thank everyone for their points of view and advice - do enjoy and value the opinions here always!

But sadly, I don’t think I can pull this off - I finished updating the value of my overall collection and decent looking low grade ‘52 Mantle would just take too big of a bite out of my collection. Once I account for the “can’t/never will sell” items, the math just doesn’t add up.

It’s a bit of a bummer but was worth exploring - if anything changes, I’ll finish my story here… but for now, I plan to stand pat!

Thx again, all

Jeff

Interesting reading all the replies. I don't think there's any wrong or right in this situation. Just personal preferences is all. Me, personally, I would go for it. As someone mentioned, everyone who has bought that card and sat on it for at least 10 years has always done well and come out on top. That part isn't even up for a debate. Just know that the excitement of owning one will eventually wear off just like any other big purchase (like a new vehicle for example). If you are the type that who gets bored easily and would perhaps sell it in a year or two, then I would not purchase one but would rather have a variety of cards in my collection.

The main issues I see about doing something like that are:

1 - You have to make sure you'll get/win the card you are wanting. To sell off about 80% of your collection and then not get the card you wanted would straight up suck.

2 - A card that big usually continues climbing in price as time goes on. By the time you sell off everything, that card in the grade of a 1.5 may not even be in your price point anymore and so you now would either have to settle for a 1 or even an "authentic". Would you be willing to accept that.

Well, I'm a single player collector and I'm glad he's not a HOFer or I would be a zero card collector. I can without a doubt tell you if I ever purchased a high dollar card anyone else that held that card would be in trouble. You would see the market tank like no other time period in history, that's just how "luck" in my world, works. At some point there will come an end, there always is and I'd hit the market at that exact point. Every hobby I've been a part of hits that point and it usually happens when deep pockets take over the hobby. The normal Joe gets left out, and fewer people that loved something, just can't justify or afford it any longer. The $ ruins everything for most of us. Can you imagine what any of these players would think of the $ people pay for an old piece of cardboard? Boggles the mind.

I would buy these 3 for 40k
 

1914 cracker jack ty cobb
1933 goudey ruth any pose , but I like 181
1948 leaf paige

That Cobb in a 2 might be close to 40k now.

yah I was thinking 1 grades on all of them but the window is closing

If you don't need the Mantle to complete your 1952 Topps set or a complete run of Mantle cards, what's the point? There are far better looking Mantle cards (1953 Bowman, 1956 Topps, etc.) available for a fraction of the price. If you're looking at it as an investment, a good argument can be made that the 1952 Topps Mantle card is the most overrated of all cards. It's not very rare at all, just super-hyped. I believe the 1951 Bowman Mantle or the 1952 Topps Jackie Robinson are far better investments if that's what you're after. The same goes for 1951 Bowman and 1952 Topps cards of Willie Mays.