Million dollar mantle

[orly57]

Maybe I am naive. Maybe I love baseball cards and value their appearance over their grade. Maybe I am just a centering freak. But the mantle below sold for over a million dollars. I could have Bill Gates' bank account and still wouldnt pay amillion bucks for a card that isnt well centered and actually has a tilt. I compared it to an sgc 7 currently on ebay at 300k obo (i am not the seller nor do i know the guy). Am I crazy to prefer the sgc 7??? Or in the alternative, is the difference a 700k difference?

[ullmandds]

im with you...i'll take the 7 and a sweet house!

[Stonepony]

I prefer the PSA graded card, but agree, if I had to pay the cash I'd buy the SGC example.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Sell the holder not the card..

I do remember a few years ago when i re-entered the hobby how i was surprised how everyone was looking at centering this and centering that

when i was growing up i just looked at the corners...if the corners were bad that was the dealbreaker... not sure if i am alone in this.....

[irv]

Originally Posted by orly57

Maybe I am naive. Maybe I love baseball cards and value their appearance over their grade. Maybe I am just a centering freak. But the mantle below sold for over a million dollars. I could have Bill Gates' bank account and still wouldnt pay amillion bucks for a card that isnt well centered and actually has a tilt. I compared it to an sgc 7 currently on ebay at 300k obo (i am not the seller nor do i know the guy). Am I crazy to prefer the sgc 7??? Or in the alternative, is the difference a 700k difference?

I posted it in this thread, which wasn't about the Million dollar Mantle but I am surprised it didn't at least get someone talking?
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=231296

It is hard to believe the price it got but I will say, if it isn't just the scan, the card looks super vibrant compared to the SGC copy.

Personally, if I had Bill Gates money, I would buy both!

[tjenkins]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

Sell the holder not the card..

I do remember a few years ago when i re-entered the hobby how i was surprised how everyone was looking at centering this and centering that

when i was growing up i just looked at the corners...if the corners were bad that was the dealbreaker... not sure if i am alone in this.....

I will totally agree with you on corners over centering but I am one of the few in this forum who absolutely does not mind off centering. Way more important to me personally over both centering and corners is creases/wrinkles and color/focus. I absolutely hate creases but no way a card gets a 7 or 8.5 with a crease. If a card is crease free and has great color and focus, I am good! I actually like the PSA 8.5 Mantle better because of color and focus but for a cool MILLION...no way.

[Dpeck100]

I spoke to a high end collector on his way home from the National on the phone for an hour and he said the card is hand is stunning. Like it was printed yesterday.

I have said it a thousand times but cards like this are bragging rights pieces. This is a Pop 3 with only 6 PSA 9's and 3 PSA 10's. If you own a copy of a Mantle in this grade you are in rare company and at the end of the day that matters when it comes to price.

A PSA 9 sold for 3.4 million so this price isn't shocking at all.

[rats60]

The PSA is a much nicer card, but both are way over priced. Aren't SCG 7s about 150-175k?

[MattyC]

The Heritage 8.5 certainly has tilt and centering that would turn off many guys who aesthetically go for centering, yet it is also undeniably crisp, bright, and ultra sharp. I would grade it an 8, personally, due to the tilt and centering. That said, PSA made their assessment and it seems the overall "freshness" of the card carried it to the half point bump. Any card cracking the million dollar barrier is certainly good press for the hobby we all love.

[irv]

Originally Posted by Dpeck100

I spoke to a high end collector on his way home from the National on the phone for an hour and he said the card in hand is stunning. Like it was printed yesterday.

I have said it a thousand times but cards like this are bragging rights pieces. This is a Pop 3 with only 6 PSA 9's and 3 PSA 10's. If you own a copy of a Mantle in this grade you are in rare company and at the end of the day that matters when it comes to price.

A PSA 9 sold for 3.4 million so this price isn't shocking at all.

Any story on where the card came from or was found? It does look pack fresh, those borders look snow white.

Going to have to look into the 9 copy that sold for 3.4 mil. I don't recall hearing about that one?

Edit: Seen it was traced back to Al Rosen's find.
http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/ne...-11m-au/ntBKr/

Originally Posted by MattyC

The Heritage 8.5 certainly has tilt and centering that would turn off many guys who aesthetically go for centering, yet it is also undeniably crisp, bright, and ultra sharp. I would grade it an 8, personally, due to the tilt and centering. That said, PSA made their assessment and it seems the overall "freshness" of the card carried it to the half point bump. Any card cracking the million dollar barrier is certainly good press for the hobby we all love.

More than likely the case, and I agree with your "Is certainly good for the hobby" opinion.

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by irv

Any story on where the card came from or was found? It does look pack fresh, those borders look snow white.

Going to have to look into the 9 copy that sold for 3.4 mil. I don't recall hearing about that one?



More than likely the case, and I agree with your "Is certainly good for the hobby" opinion.

It was a raw copy that Heritage brought to the National to get graded is what I was told. They were trying to get 1.3 or 1.5 million for it. The collector said they drove it there something like 11 hours. Not sure of the origin but as you can see from the scan it is a pack fresh looking example.

I am not certain if the person who bought the Mantle wants to be outed so I am not going to be the one to due so. That said I have seen a picture of the card and it is spectacular.

There were rumblings on this board about a sale over 3 million months ago and after speaking to a few people I believe there have been two.

On the CU board five years ago I stated I thought a 10 would easily bring 3 million. To the right buyer I bet that number is north of 10 and it wouldn't necessarily end up in a baseball card collectors hands. My thesis has always been a hedge fund manager or private equity guy who wants to showcase it on display in their Manhattan penthouse in a glass case. Talk about a conversation piece. One of only three cards to ever achieve the top grade of the most famous baseball card of the past sixty five years.

[irv]

Originally Posted by Dpeck100

It was a raw copy that Heritage brought to the National to get graded is what I was told. They were trying to get 1.3 or 1.5 million for it. The collector said they drove it there something like 11 hours. Not sure of the origin but as you can see from the scan it is a pack fresh looking example.

I am not certain if the person who bought the Mantle wants to be outed so I am not going to be the one to due so. That said I have seen a picture of the card and it is spectacular.

There were rumblings on this board about a sale over 3 million months ago and after speaking to a few people I believe there have been two.

On the CU board five years ago I stated I thought a 10 would easily bring 3 million. To the right buyer I bet that number is north of 10 and it wouldn't necessarily end up in a baseball card collectors hands. My thesis has always been a hedge fund manager or private equity guy who wants to showcase it on display in their Manhattan penthouse in a glass case. Talk about a conversation piece. One of only three cards to ever achieve the top grade of the most famous baseball card of the past sixty five years.

I edited my post above. Said it was/could be traced back to Al Rosen's find in 86?
http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/ne...-11m-au/ntBKr/

The 3.4mil card, I could find no info on, so, more than likely, it was a private sale.

[KendallCat]

I think we are seeing an era where very few new submissions are coming to market with high end cards like Mantle's, Aaron's, Clemente's... so premium prices are being paid for centered examples. Within a grade like PSA 7 or PSA 8 there is such a large range of factors like centering, eye appeal, corners, color, focus... prices can vary dramatically.

I also think the market from May-August experienced some exuberance and manipulation with certain rookie cards so people are leery of getting back into those cards and cards they spent $30k on which are now $15k. Think about the persons who bought the Goodwin Clemente PSA 8 examples for $146k and $150k in June/July, and now they are back to the $50k range. Same with the Koufax PSA 8 and Rose PSA 8 which are both trading at much lower prices now versus June/July.

When all this happened I think people decided to stick with what they know and have poured money back into Mantle cards which are about as sure of a bet in the market as anything.

[irv]

Originally Posted by KendallCat

I think we are seeing an era where very few new submissions are coming to market with high end cards like Mantle's, Aaron's, Clemente's... so premium prices are being paid for centered examples. Within a grade like PSA 7 or PSA 8 there is such a large range of factors like centering, eye appeal, corners, color, focus... prices can vary dramatically.

I also think the market from May-August experienced some exuberance and manipulation with certain rookie cards so people are leery of getting back into those cards and cards they spent $30k on which are now $15k. Think about the persons who bought the Goodwin Clemente PSA 8 examples for $146k and $150k in June/July, and now they are back to the $50k range. Same with the Koufax PSA 8 and Rose PSA 8 which are both trading at much lower prices now versus June/July.

When all this happened I think people decided to stick with what they know and have poured money back into Mantle cards which are about as sure of a bet in the market as anything.

That is definitely the case, imo, too. I have followed many many cards and have noticed that as well. Some big money is definitely gone and if sellers/consignors think they are going to get the same money as what summer cards sold for, their sadly mistaken.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-Topps-1...vip=true&rt=nc

[Shoebox]

The hyperfocus on centering is perplexing to me. The SGC card is better centered but I find every other aspect of the PSA card superior. If priced equally I would choose that card every time. Whether I would pay the exponentially higher price the flip would command is another issue and a large reason I am happy to stick with collectors grade cards.

[DBesse27]

Originally Posted by Shoebox

The hyperfocus on centering is perplexing to me. The SGC card is better centered but I find every other aspect of the PSA card superior. If priced equally I would choose that card every time.

Agreed. Centering isn't the end all, be all for me. In fact, it's not Very high at all on my priority list. Corners and lack of tilt are the first things I look at. Agree with boynton that I never thought about centering for even a split second when I was a kid.

[jchcollins]

A friend (who doesn't collect cards) sent this story to me earlier this week and the first thing I said was "Wow, that is some tilt and o/c for an 8.5!" Not much room to talk because I can't afford a PSA 1 '52 #311, but yeah. I'd much rather have a centered card in a lower grade that is still presentable than a card that everyone would immediately say, "That's perfect, EXCEPT for..."


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk