All valid points regarding scarcity (DP, twice as many made as SP highs, and he was a popular player, and more likely to be saved than lesser known highs), it is not his true rookie by any stretch, and those who would argue even Mantle as a player is overrated.
But what I think it comes down to value wise, what can't be overestimated, is the card's artistic and pop-culture importance.
Make no mistake, these cards are works of art, and the Mantle, I would wager, is one of the two or three most beautiful cards in arguably the most beautiful set of baseball cards EVER. The colors, the composition, the pose, the look in Mantle's eyes...it gives one chills.
And it is a pop culture icon of the first order. I'm talking Action Comics #1, Radio Flyer, Coca Cola. It is pure concentrated 50s nostalgia. It represents an era long gone, or perhaps one that never existed at all.
To be honest, I'm not a huge baseball fan. I hardly watch the modern stuff. But I love these cards to death, because of what they represent: kids spending their lawn mower money, racing to the drugstore to buy the new series, and trade 'em with their friends. Kids loved these cards, looked up to these players who were your older brother, the President and Greek Gods rolled up into one. Kids like my Dad, who'll tell me his stories about buying these cards, and admires that '52 Joe Adcock, or his old, beat up '53 Musial color.
These were cards, I believe, that helped in a small way to break down racial barriers. Blacks were mixed in with whites, and treated with the same reverence. Who were the first three NY players of the high series? Mantle, Robinson and Thomson. In '53 Robinson opened up the set. You can't tell me that didn't subtly indoctrinate impressionable kids to see black players as just like the white ones, and to judge them on their skills as players, rather than their skin tone.
That's what I love about these cards, and why I collect them, and why I think the Mantle card isn't so overrated, because it has a lot, lot more going for it than just baseball. He's up there with the t206 Wagner. I mean, when you think about it, who cares about Wagner? He's dead, and so are just about all the people who were around to remember him when he played. Yet people still clamber for his card, because now, they represent far more than mere populations or player stats. They are icons of Americana that transcend the hobby itself, and that's why they are so valuable.
At least, that's how I see it.
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