Mantle run complete
 

After a couple years of searching ebay and auction listings, and even making a couple of deals here on Net54, my Mantle run is finally complete. A special thanks to MattyC, who previously owned a few of these, and provided a lot of help and advice along the way.

I threw in a 58 Mantle/Aaron because that card has sentimental value.

Beautiful cards Jesse! Love the centering! If ever you get tired of them.... :)

Jeff

Thanks Jeff, no plans to sell any time soon but I will keep you in mind.

Sweet...so cool. Loved watching you put that together over the years, congrats!!

Mantle
 

Jesse,

All of those Mantles look awesome! Congrats on completing the Mantle run and I appreciate the drool worthy posting...

Mantles
 

Great job. Those are beautiful!

Damn, amazing eye appeal on that 52! Great work.


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Just a great collection!

Congratulations!!! What's next on your radar?

Mantles
 

Which is your favorite visually ?

Congrats on your Mangle run!! ;)

Congratulations! That is a great pic!

Mantle run continues?
 

Time to start on those dozens of oddball issues.

Thanks guys. My favorites visually, in order, are 53t, 56, 52t, 51, and 60.

My original plan was to finish this and then concentrate on post war RCs. Although with the market for those so crazy right now that may change. No plans for a master run, but I'd like to add the 54 Dan dee, red heart, the 57 Mantle/Berra and the 62 Mantle/Mays. Maybe a few all star cards and a signed Mantle or two. Begsu if you have any of those you'd let go let me know:)

A couple of cards I bought before centering was a priority and I plan to upgrade. They really stand out in hand when compared to the centered ones.

And Leon thanks for pointing out the typo. Peter mentioned it too. I usually catch those but it was late.

Jesse, I have made more really bad typo's than the number of times you have posted. The Mick run is really great to see. Also, interesting comment of your past and present view on centering. I don't think I used to care as much as I do now, in all eras of cards.

Yea, the centering makes such a difference. This run could have been done a year ago but I didn't want to settle for more cards I'd only want to upgrade later. I didn't realize how few of his cards are centered until I really started paying attention. Finding one on ebay is like finding a needle in a hay stack. Even in higher grades.

Spelling
 

That's why I do not have spell check. I have Peter and Bob.

Nice cards and congrats on the run, Jesse. But who is this Mantle fellow anyway? :D

Beautiful! Congrats Jessie.

Have ever considered selling the 52 Topps for a lesser grade only to upgrade some others?

Hate to be Debbie Downer, but have you thought about getting the variations of his Topps cards? The 1952 Topps can be found with the stitches on the ball on the back going in the opposite direction and has a few differences on the front, the 1956 can be found with a gray back or a white back, the 1957 supposedly can be found with the man walking in the background being airbrushed out in two varying degrees (I never could tell the difference though), and the 1969 can be found with white letters.

Just some over rated guy who used to play for the Yankees from what I hear.

I do plan to add a 69 WL, centered lower grade is fine if you know of one available. The other variations I'm not concerned about. Another 52 isn't in the budget unless I sold off quite a few others.

And no plans to sell my 52. It's a recent pick up and the center piece of my collection. I'd rather sell the rest of them than let it go. It was the card I dreamed of as a kid never really thinking owning a nice one would be possible.

Congrats,Truly impressive! That's something to be proud of. Just curious which years would be your least favorite ?

The Mantle run mangled his bank account.

In the mean time, my Mantle run is still perfect. I don't own all of them. :D

Beautiful collection, Jesse. But I need individual scans of all of them, please. It's not 4,000 Cansecos, but I think if any collection on the vintage side deserves individual scans, this is it. I'll have to live vicariously through you for a while longer. :p

Thank you for sharing!

Typos or no, we usually know what you mean, boss. So no harm, no foul. :D

I'm not really a fan of the 55 Bowman or 67 Topps.

Congrats, Jesse! Awesome work.

Congrats! What are the grades...my eyes aren't what they used to be?

The 52t is a 4, 51, 52b, and 53t are 5s. 54-58 are 6s except for the 56 which is an 8. The rest are mostly 7s with a couple of other 8s.

AVG GPA is 5.8. It's on the PSA registry and I plan to add individual scans as soon as I pick up a working scanner.

Congrats. An awesome run of Mick!! Thanks for posting the eye-candy!!

Thanks, most of them except for a couple early pickups do look great for the grade. Both 52s, 53t, 57, and 62 are dead centered. I will add individual scans one of these days.

Next up is probably selling a couple of other cards first, but yes I am still looking for a centered WL 69. Anywhere from a PSA 3-7 could work if it looks good.

I usually skip over Mick posts because I'm sick of seeing his cards over and over again. But seeing your whole run laid out like that was awesome. Congrats man!

Great cards. Enjoyed looking at them, and looking forward to a few individual scans. judgebuck (David)

Sick of seeing Mantles is a feeling I can't relate to. Although if you're not a fan I do understand. It was pretty awesome for me to see them all laid out on the table, especially since most of them are usually at the bank.

Any thoughts about this?

I addressed that in post 21. No plans to sell the 52. Although if an offer was high enough I would consider selling any card in my collection.

Both nice cards, especially for the grade, but I'm pretty picky and would want one with no tilt. That's why I don't have one yet.

[QUOTE=pokerplyr80;1557247]Thanks guys. My favorites visually, in order, are 53t, 56, 52t, 51, and 60.

Agree---they're all gorgeous. I'd include the '53 Bowman as well.

Jesse, my sincerest congratulations, and thanks for taking the time and effort to present us with a group portrait. A very impressive assemblage of Mickey.

Perhaps you could invest in a nice All State Display case with a royal blue velvet pad to allow yourself the privilege to bring them all back from the bank a few times a year to arrange again as you did, to just enjoy admiring them in person on a weekend. Sure, you wouldn't need the case, but it would make an elegant "secure" backdrop. -Brian Powell

Just curious, why is the '58 Topps Mantle / Aaron of sentimental value for you?

Best regards, my fellow collecting warrior. ---Brian Powell

Thanks Brian, I may figure out something for a display but for now I'm happy just to look through them in a stack when they're back from the bank.

The 58 Mantle/Aaron was the first and pretty much only vintage card I owned as a kid. It was in pretty rough shape but I loved that card. I must have read that paragraph on the back 100 times. I think I had picked it up in a trade for some hot 90s insert I pulled from a pack at the time. It's still at home, but I bought a graded one to match the rest in the run.

Beautiful story, Jesse. I loved it, particularly "I must have read that paragraph on the back 100 times." Thanks for answering my request for the background story. Very befitting.

Display how you wish, natch. Twas just an idea. You're having fun enjoying them and that's great---as it should be.

It took me a whale of a long time getting a suitable display case that is now prepared right to me. Some of my stuff has gotta stay in the bank, but a bunch of it is for the case, and that will be peacefully pleasant with lots of eye candy---:D

Whatever else you wind up deciding to pursue of Mickey, I wish you the very best. If you decide to stop where you're at, you've done decidedly well. ---Brian Powell

A few of my favorite Mantles scanned in today

wow!
Good stuff!

Very Nice!! :)

Gorgeous all around. That 52T is dead nuts centered! Love the new 53T addition as well. Don't see 57s centered like that hanging around either ;)

Great collection, Jesse!

Thanks guys, I got the 57 from a friend with a good eye.

Love seeing great collections...


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+1

Wow Jessie !! Outstanding Mantle run

Awesome centering on the Mantle rookie - hardest aspect to find when buying a 1952 Mantle is finding one with centering and eye appeal. Lots of "ugly" 6's and 7's that are tilted and 80/20.

I like how you laid out your original photo, and seeing a few other collections done like this is what inspired me to go after a Mantle run as well. Since funds are not unlimited for most of us it helps to provide focus on one's collection and eliminates the desire to collect everything. My goal is to do the run first from 1952-1960 and then slowly work on the 60's - not as fun as the 50's but have to pick up these cards for a complete run. I do not plan on upgrading the 52 and 53 due to $$ for these two cards and I like the ones I have to date. Will do 1956-1960 in PSA 8 and above and have most of them already with a few additions hopefully on the way. Here are a few photos of my run to date laid out.

http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/...svnq3ot9h.jpeg

Since this photo was taken I have added a PSA 8 1956 Mantle, sold one of the 1960 PSA 8's, and picked up a PSA 8 1968 Mantle - both the 1956 and 1968 were PWCC HE.

*

That centering is very special on the '57. I own one w/similar centering 52/48 both ways on the front w/o a tilt...and I can appreciate how difficult that card is in terms of centering and tilt.

Awesome cards. Funds are definitely not unlimited for me either. Unfortunately I had to sell quite a few cards recently, and will probably sell a few more to go after something else I want. Let me know if you want to sell one of those 1960s, assuming you still have both.

Edit: And thanks to everyone else again for the kind words.

Agreed on the 52 Topps. So few are even close to centered, let alone almost dead centered. Even at higher grade levels. Look at that 8.5 up at heritage. An awesome card that someone is about to spend a million bucks on, or more, but centering is way off and it has pretty bad tilt.

Wow !!! Love all of your cards ! I have a very nice Mantle run, but not as sweet as yours !

Congrats! Beautiful layout.

I call BS on this. You threw that in for OCD symmetry. And for that, I thank you.

I made the decision to complete every Topps set from 1952 to 1973 in EX-MT to NM a couple months ago, which forces a Mantle run on me. Hey, it could happen!

I'm a little closer now as I won a four card Mantle lot on REA this weekend. So, I will have 1961, 1963, 1966, and 1967 in PSA 7 soon. I already have the 66 so I'll be looking to trade for one of the years I don't have. My mentality is to knock out the Mantles now as they aren't going down in value any time some soon and I don't want to pay more later. :D

I guess I should have said I bought the Mantle/Aaron for sentimental reasons. I included it in the picture because I own it and wanted a shot of all of my Mantle cards. I never thought about leaving it out, and the shot would have been symmetrical either way as the 62 could have went up a row.

Good luck with your project. Sounds like quite the undertaking, especially if you're buying them one or a few at a time.

Very nice cards as well!!

Actually sold one of them already to help fund some future purchases along with a Ruth and a Gehrig. Bought several things at the National and just trying to focus on the Mantle run first. Here is the recent replacement for the 1956 Mantle - current run shows a 6.5 and this one is the PWCC HE from last month. Funny thing is the 6.5 that just sold in REA is about like my 6.5 - I would say my 6.5 is pretty close to an 8 as they come with centering, color, and focus.

http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/...sv3bvm7lp.jpeg

PSA 6.5 and PSA 8

http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/...sbc6ioqwb.jpeg

I'm just playing with ya. I love that card, too. And 1962 Manager's Dream with Hank and Ernie in the background looking at the Green Monster.

I'm buying large lots of raw cards and key cards graded so it is a mix of big pick-ups and one or two at a time. Ran out of money so time to catalog!