I did bid on a coaster on eBay recently but lost to small traditions. Here is my HI matchbook run. Love the bottle caps...

my topps basic cards run progress in the last week.
i have the 1960 in the mail.. i only need to buy now the 1966

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Happy eclipse day everyone!

Attached is a photo of the Mantle Bazooka cards I got in the H&S auction. Just need the '59 Bazooka now. Also attached is the '52 Star Cal decal from the same auction. Obvious disclaimer: the pictures are not to scale. :rolleyes:

1959 Bazooka Mantle box!!! Wow!
 

Blown away - 24k for Bazooka Mantle box! I sadly was the under bidder back in 2010 when it sold for 6 :( Really happy to see Bazooka boxes and other obscure issues getting some financial recognition!

Great looking cards, Nelson and Michael!

Nice cards michael !

Great cards Mike! I'll trade you my 59'Bazooka for the Star Cal sticker if you want :)

Thanks guys!

Chris, I'll gladly trade you the Mantle Star Cal for the '59 Bazooka box that just sold. :D

Howard, I'm very disappointed at the "financial recognition" that some of the obscure items are getting. I would rather the recognition come after I've been able to add them to my collection. :p I would have loved to have gotten the '59 Mantle Bazooka box, but after spending a lot more than I had planned on the Star Cal Mantle, I ended up being a way-under bidder on the Bazooka box.

I understand
 

I have been at this for the better part of 30 years. I have always loved collecting Bazookas, Venezuelan's, food issues, test issues, etc. With rare exception many of those items have had no financial respect compared to regular issue cards. That said - I completely understand about wanting to buy them before they hit the stars. I too was a way under bidder on the box. Just think how upset I was realizing that I was THE under bidder on the very same box back in 2010 at 5K!!:eek:

The Star Cal was a great (albeit expensive) pick up!

Nice!
 

Great pickups AustinMike!

My White Whale and the new centerpiece of my Mantle collection.
Attachment 285446

I hear you Howard. I can definitely sympathize with you regarding your near miss on the beautiful '59 Mantle Bazooka box several years back.

I think one of the reasons the oddball cards are doing so well is because of the '52 Topps. It's kind of dragging everything else up with it. But, I would rather have the oddball cards more than the '52 Topps. The '52 Topps can be purchased any day of the week, whereas the oddball cards are available at most a couple of times a year. And ... they still cost less than the '52 Topps.

Fantastic pick-up Dave!!!

I agonized over staying in the hunt for that card or going for the '54 Stahl-Meyer or the '52 Star Cal. I kind of thought that might go for a little more so I gave up on it and was surprised it ended as early as it did. Then gave up on the '54 Stahl-Meyer and it closed. I ended up getting in a bidding war for the '52 Star Cal and of the 3 I really wanted, it was the last one to close.

Anyway, a big congratulations on getting the '53 Briggs.

Thanks Tony. I appreciate it.

Thanks Mike, those Bazookas are fantastic

Great card, Dave

Plus 1 on this sentiment bro, great addition to the collection Dave and enjoy for years to come !

My newest addition to my personal Mickey Mantle collection.

1954 Bowman

One of my favorite Micks

Mine too, card presents itself very well as a 5!

[QUOTE=Stonepony;1694525]My White Whale and the new centerpiece of my Mantle collection.


Congratulations, Dave. That is a honey of a Briggs Mickey Mantle!

In my heart of hearts, your specimen deserves an "upper deck" numerical grade from PSA. Briggs made no attempt to define the borders on its cards, except their beautiful deep red background as the basic color of its package. In 1953-54, it wasn't supposed to be that big a deal--just cut the card out, kid!!!!!

Now, the cut IS the big deal.

If the original owner who cut the card did the good job I'm seeing, why just authenticate it?*!@#! I mean, here's an extremely rare and very attractive Mickey Mantle once-free prize now worth 5 figures. You would think PSA would give the card a lot more thought than "AUTHENTIC". As it is, each AUTHENTIC card (involving any set where the cards are "hand-cut") must be meticulously scrutinized on a card-by-card basis. With the advanced scanning technology employed by the better auction houses, this is accomplished.

I can further articulate my irritation, but this is not the time. Dave, your Briggs if flat out beautiful. A dream Mantle due to its regal rarity, having the heart of Bob Olen's perfect rookie portrait of our Mick Charles. Thank you for sharing your joy, bro. Well done.

I hope you enjoy my book, too. It's impossible for me to know if my Briggs chapter will enhance your knowledge of the set, but I know for certain your fondness and respect for the entire promotion should take a quantum leap! Obviously, winning and now receiving Mickey has given you a sigh of relief, and a major rush of happiness and thrill at owning one of those rare Briggs babies. Or, I should say, THE rare Briggs baby! The others are all cool and desirable, but Mick remains the key.

----Brian Powell

Guess the grade (not a trick).

Peter, Judging only by the front, the grade seems 5.5 to 6.5, with superb color and clarity of image. ---Brian

The back is very clean.

Remembering, Leon's card and the grade it received, I am guessing this one graded a 4?

As I've stated numerous times, and also playing the same, "Guess the Grade" with 3 purchased cards of my own, just when you think you have this grading thing down somewhat, something comes along and throws everything you have learned right out the window. :confused:

Yeah, it was graded a 4 at a show, seems harsh to me.

4 seems right to me

This looks far worse to my eye.

Mickey mantle
 

Rare pickup

Peter, is there a small crease, or a front or back crease/spider, I am not seeing? Perhaps the grade was given because of the white mark on the bat, extending to the sky.

Regardless, at that grade, the price would have been substantially lower, enabling the buyer to get much more eye appeal for much less moo-lah.

---Brian Powell

I agree, Peter, the second card does look worse but, imo, based on what I can see of it, likely should have been graded a 3?

Edit: Meant to add, and again, just my opinion, but I do believe the Mantle's, May's, Robinson's, Ruth's, etc, get graded a little tougher than commons, or at least that is what it seems to me.

Larry, what, another one? :eek: Congratulations! (Insert "Envious" icon here)

mantle
 

hi
had 2...sold the psa 2 kept the psa 3 for now

The more and more I get into the 50's sets, i really love the Topps '54 and '55 sets and it makes me sad there is no Mantle in those sets. They are SO much better than their Bowman counterparts! I'm sure I'm not the first to have this opinion, but it was on my mind today when going through some 50's cards.

How nice would Mick look in those sets!

Lots of fantasy versions out there.

There is also the rather pleasing 54 Sports Illustrated version.

Bump this thread up!

Here's a new addition to my Mantle PC



https://s20.postimg.org/us7ew3o6l/IMG_2359.jpg[/url]

Happy to receive this second to last year Mick

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4411/3...7afd3f5a5d.jpg

Not technically pick ups today, but got these three back from PSA today. The '60 was a bump from a SGC 55/4.5. I gambled and cracked it.

Chris, nice job on the newest additions sir. Really like the "57" as it looks strong for it`s grade. Enjoy !!

https://scontent-dft4-3.xx.fbcdn.net...5e&oe=5A3F6CD7

Mailday from COMC. Bottom right is an O-Pee-Chee version. Most are going to PSA for my set registry.

Nice mailday, John!

Thanks to fellow board member, quinnsryche, these are now in my collection. :)

Got lucky and was able to pick-up the last Holiday Inn matchbook (with Mantle's photo) variation that I needed this past week.

Nice matchbook Mike! I'll have to share some info on a couple of new variations one of these days :)






Just kidding. I think you have them all, or at least all but the one with blue matches.

Nice!

That's the toughest one to find of the bunch imo! Great pickup.

I know you told me, but I forget ... which one did you pick up with the blue matches?

As far as variations, I'm sure we can come up with many more. There are the ones with no matches, the ones with one match, the ones with two matches, etc. :D

Thanks ... especially since I think you're the one who informed us of the variation.

I've been looking for the Holiday Inn matchbooks for 2 to 3 years on eBay. I've only seen 2 with the yellow background in all that time, the one I got and another one. This is the first I've seen of this variation, although I've only been aware of it since you told us about it. So I think the yellow background variation would give this one a run for title of toughest to find.

Thanks to Chris, I was able to scratch this off my want list. Thanks again Chris!!