The Rosen '52 find

[talkinbaseball]

Leon, feel free to move this thread, I was wondering why the Mantles that were graded never had a pedigree to that find?
Thanks,
John

[mightyq]

PSA wasn't really doing that at the time, i think the first pedigree might have been the burdick collection, i could be wrong.

[marzoumanian]

The late Al Rosen was definitely NOT a collector like Mr. Burdick and Mr. Copeland.
I just pulled out his "True Mint," written in 1994. Here's a paragraph I thought you would get a kick out of (from page 33):
"I placed an advertisement in SCD [in 1986] trying to sell the [1952] Mantles for $3500 each, perfectly centered gem mint cards...I didn't sell any Mantles at that price. I was crushed. So I started blowing them out and most of them I sold to dealers for $2000 each. The last 10 I sold to John Broggi of JKJ Sports Collectibles. He paid me $12,500 for 10 of them."
For Rosen it was all about making deals and money. That's not a knock, by the way. Just the way he was.
As you know, today Broggi runs the National.
Times have changed, right?

[theuclakid]

whole runs of high numbers were offered for $12000....I passed as it was a lot for my family back then....and no, not all of the 52 Mantles were centered...still an exciting find as was the 1953 Topps cards #1-86 a few years later from a Canadian dealer (case of wax boxes opened, packs opened)...I did get a couple Mantles and Robinsons from that find.......I had called the dealer about an ad in SCD, and he just happened to mention he had these 53 Topps....years later (1996) I got one each of the Mantles and Robinsons graded, they both received 9's...the Mantle was the last one to get a 9 until 2016....Bruce Perry

[whitehse]

I remember the Rosen find and laughing at his asking price. Someone please find me a time machine....quick....

[Jobu]

Instead of going back to 1986, I hope you'd go back to 1952 instead.

Originally Posted by whitehse

I remember the Rosen find and laughing at his asking price. Someone please find me a time machine....quick....

[Fetamore]

I too remember the Rosen find. Seeing his ad in SCD, I immediately called Him to see if he would sell me one of each Phillies and As cards, he did. Then he said he still had one complete set left. I could have it for $12,000. I had 3 children under 8 hrs old and a stay at home wife who would have killed me. I thought about it and passed. Just one of many bad card collecting decisions in my past.