New Member says hello
 

Just wanted to say thanks - I've been a reader for quite sometime and I'm happy to now have even greater access to such knowledgable collectors. I figured in my opening post it would be appropriate to share my Mickey Mantle collection since I've spent a lot of time drooling over so many of yours. I'm a mid grade collector on a budget and I've based this 'set' off an article from a local paper that I read as a kid about the top 40 Mickey Mantle cards. So, enjoy the picture. I'd happily post additional ones, too. (I hope I did this right)

Thanks again and Go Yankees!

Tim

Welcome Tim. Lots of Mick collectors on the forum. Good luck in the hunt!!

Welcome! I love The Mick.

Thanks Leon. By far, my most precious is the 1965 Topps. As a young kid, I went to a baseball card show in the summer of 1992 in Ocean City, Maryland. Prior to that, I had only been to the numerous baseball card shops in my area and a few smaller shows at the local VFW, Knights of Columbus Halls and local churches. It was an experience I'll never forget, walking around wide eyed as I viewed and held so many cards that I had only seen in magazines. Not everyone was friendly but the vast majority were and my dad tolerated me interrupting his vacation for the better part of 2 hours as I was perusing cards that predate me by decades and have fascinated me and occupied me for decades since. I had saved up about a hundred bucks and was hunting down a 1962 Managers Dream that sadly was not at the show. My dad knew I was disappointed and dipped into his pockets to buy me the 1965. It was in better shape then - I enjoyed holding it a little too much before getting it graded a few years back - but I never worry to much about the grade. I can't afford mint so VG or better is usually the goal and I have continued to buy raw cards because I think that's half the fun is trying to determine the condition of the card for yourself. And to me, grades don't always reflect beauty. For example, I love the eye appeal of my 1953 Topps despite its (very) valid grade of 10/1/poor. The surface is rough, it's got a crease and the lower right corner is fuzzed and damaged but the color is vivid and the centering is awesome and it has 3 reasonably good corners. I think the photo I snapped with my IPad captures its beauty pretty well.

What do you guys think? Are you ruled by grade or eye appeal? Just curious...

The eyes have it
 

Hi Tim and welcome aboard!

To reply about whether grade or eye appeal, I think you'll get an overwhelming majority to answer EYE APPEAL.

You can have both, certainly, but the better option can be to have a lower technical grade and outstanding eye appeal ( as a buyer / collector)

The buyers have spoken ...even when the grade is the same numerically, certain cards go for well above the other.

Your cards look nice, and they have certainly been enjoyed. That's what it's all about!