I think one thing you have to consider is that there is a bias among the users of this board. Since most of us are very sophisticated collectors, we can't fathom why a card that's not rare be many times valuable than much rarer cards like '61 Dice Game and '68 3Ds. The problem with the latter mentioned sets is that they're so rare, they are mostly sought after only by esoteric collectors.
I will probably argue that the '52 Mantle not being scarce is probably a factor in why it has become so iconic. I know that if I need to sell off the one I have it's not a big deal because if I have the money, I can acquire another one fairly easily. There is a guy on this board that says he's bought and sold a '52 Mantle in various conditions many times and that's because he can! If I have a card from the '61 Dice Game set, once I sell it, it's going to be much harder to replace it no matter how much money I have.
The '52 Mantle reportedly had iconic status from way back. I think Ted Z once said it was big deal in 1952, so its place in the hobby will probably stay there. On this board it may not be a big deal, but to other casual collectors and even non-collectors the card is very significant.
Craig
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