Al Rosen's 52 Mantle story(PSA 8) by Heritage
 

Bidding starts next month: July 11th approx.



From the world famous Rosen find!
1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 PSA NM-MT 8. It has been twenty-eight years since a Saturday afternoon telephone call to hobby icon Al "Mr. Mint" Rosen forever altered the course of post-war baseball card collecting. Rosen's famous money-fanning print advertisements had come to the attention of a Boston-area lumber company forklift operator who was interested in selling a collection of 1952 Topps baseball cards. The cards, the man reported, were in like-new condition, a tale that Rosen had heard many times before and accepted with no small degree of skepticism. A later conversation revealed that the cards derived from the hen's-tooth-rare high series, a late-season production that managed only very limited distribution before the 1952 World Series came and went, knocking baseball cards from drugstore shelves for the long winter.

The 1952 Topps set had been the largest of its day, both in number of cards and the dimension. Ultimately, though, these excesses turned against Topps Company management, who realized late in the 1952 season that the "high number" series would never reach their channels of distribution in time for the close of the baseball season. Limited quantities were trucked to stores in the northeastern United States and in Canada, but the final solution for a warehouse filled with unsellable cards is said to have been a boat trip several miles out into the Atlantic Ocean, and ignominious burial at sea.

Thirty-four years later, Rosen felt his pulse quicken at the thought that some might have been spared. "How many Mantles?" he asked the man on the other end of the telephone line.

"About thirty."

Rosen hung up and started packing a suitcase for the drive up to New England. With six figures in cash in hand, and a police escort for protection, Rosen arrived at a modest home in Quincy, Massachusetts in the suburbs of Boston and completed what is arguably the most significant trading card transaction in the hobby's history.

Today that extraordinary find has been scattered to all four corners of the collecting world, with the most sizeable concentrations found at the upper reaches of the PSA Set Registry. Most of the all-important Mantle rookies have found homes in permanent collections, a trend which is fortuitously bucked here, a nearly unimprovable example of the post-war hobby's most recognizable and important entry.

The image has ingrained itself in our American iconography, with the Mick posed in a right-handed batting stance, his eyes drifting up to the grandstands beyond. Thankfully spared from death by drowning, this stunning specimen is outshone by just eleven representations among the over 1,180 examples validated by PSA at the time of this writing. Searching for the faults responsible for "points lost" from a Gem Mint rating, one sees only the subtlest of diamond cuts and extremely light corner touches (the total amount of wear represented close to fully at top-left) and centering that finds Mantle's portrait elevated just above the purest equilibrium. From any reasonable viewing distance, one is unlikely to spot any deviation from utter perfection, as color, gloss and registration are rendered with unimpeachable results.

http://dyn2.heritagestatic.com/lf?se...oduct.chain%5D

http://dyn2.heritagestatic.com/lf?se...oduct.chain%5D

Gorgeous card!

It's also worth mentioning that, for the most part, Heritage has some of the best write-ups in the auction business (Al's at LOTG also come to mind). A little bit of fluffery is expected, but they mix that with just the right amount of accurate detail about the card's condition, which is what bidders are really looking for in an auction listing.

Damn, that's a nice card....

My HOUSE isn't able to buy this card! What does everyone think the card will go for? Sounds like a possible contest to me! Does the card reach 200K?

$250k

250Ks
 

Ks being kukaberas ?

well here some Ebay figures to compare to:
GAI 7.5 is asking 30k
SGC 80/6 is asking 36k
PSA 6 is asking 49k
PSA 4.5 is asking 25k

in all respect, i doubt seeing 200k+, more like closer to the 100-150k range it seems. Unless, the story behind it adds some value, and perhaps a bid war.

Mantle
 

Chris-- you and others here know a lot more about this card than me. But I will go with Bob on this one. He is like a walking and sometimes talking PSA spreadsheet. Weird almost :eek:

I'd venture 200k-ish. Time will tell, and will be an interesting one to watch.

Now I no what I want this Christmas and will get coal instead. What a Card.

We have yet to see the proof that this card was part of the Rosen find. Right now we have only an auction description saying so. How does Heritage know? What is the evidence?

I would venture to say they can trace the sales history back to the find. Not to sound dumb though, but does it really matter whether it came from his find? My assumption is that most of the high grade 52 Topps Mantles came from that find, so I cannot imagine there being any premium either way. If it came from the find, great, it was part of a really significant find. If it did not come from the find, it still managed to escape any wear for over 60 years.

Al, was your Mantle part of the find?

Perhaps there are some for whom the Rosen find makes a difference, but I find it moot in the face of the card and it would not affect my bid one way or the other. I think that card is going to moon no matter if it was Rosen who found it or my nana ;)

Hahah, is your nana Mrs. Mint?

The image of Mrs. Mint is more than more than I can deal with :). I can understand how the provenance of the card may not matter to some, but to me if it was from the Rosen find that would be meaningful in the sense that I think that it would decrease the chances that the card is a counterfeit (of course that risk is already decresed by PSA grading .. but still, it would not be the first time that a counterfeit card got past the graders).

Don't make me break out Photoshop. :p

A fake 311 is not hard to detect; one making it past both PSA and a reputable point of sale is not much of a concern. Especially such a high profile example. A quality point of sale will also refund if the card were to fail a PSA review. If you win it and are concerned, just have PSA take a quick look. End of day, such a provenance story as having come from the Mint find is okay, just as tracing the history of a card to its original owner. Cool to have and adds character and history, but not essential to proving the card is 100% authentic and unaltered.

What a card!! Include me in the group that says the Rosen find is interesting reading, but if I were bidding, wouldn't add any extra value. The card is stellar on it's own.

**BUMPING**
Since the Auction closed yesterday, but still
Followed By a
Live Signature Floor Session on Jul 31, 2014
http://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball-ca...ed-dailystatus

Based on my previous quote, noted above--- the hammer price seems to be what i figured it would bring.
Bad timing with the National? was that a coicidence?
CURRENTLY AT 110,000 (BP 131,450)

Let the plutocratic pissing contest begin...

If it were centered, I'd say possibly 200K. But that example is pretty average. Honestly, if I had that kind of money to spend, I'd wait for one with better registration. Grade means less to me than does eye appeal, and while this card is high grade, the eye appeal is merely adequate.

I guess
 

Slightly North of 250,000. Iconic card lots of deep pockets still want one.