Fun topic. I assume this is a to own rather than invest, someone just offers to give you one or the other, red pill or blue pill type of hypothetical.
For me the answer is always red pill
and Wagner, in a heartbeat.
A. I can buy a presentable Mantle if I want to. Not so with the Wagner.
B. The Wagner is THE card and has been since I was a kid.
It has a mystique that no other card has, ever.
I saw my first one in person around 1978 at one of the semi-annual Anaheim shows Mike Berkus used to run.
As I recall, the card was $6,000 at the time.
C. PSA 8?
I could not care less about PSA high grade. I'll take the vg card and the condo in Kona, Alex. To me PSA means Probably Somehow Altered.