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Originally Posted by marzoumanian

Believe it or not, I know the man who is selling this card. I will respect his privacy and not mention his name. Back in November 2004 I visited his home in New Jersey and saw A LOT of his baseball memorabilia collection. To this day it remains THE most incredible personal collection I have ever seen in my life.
He told me himself that he was the guy at MSG who brought his son with him to that show and worked out the deal with Alan Rosen. As many of you know, it was written up in Rosen's book, True Mint.
An earlier post mentioned that the owner kept this incredible 1952 Mantle in his basement. That's true. When I walked in I first said hello to his wife and then headed right downstairs. His collection is behind a floor to ceiling bank vault. He told me to turn my head as he dialed the numbers to open the vault. I walked into a truly amazing array of collectibles. He truly loves The Mick. I couldn't believe the items he had in this room. I won't go into detail out of respect to this fine gentleman.
As for the card? Back then it was raw but protected in plastic, of course. Next to it was a "to whom it may concern" letter from Rosen stating that it was from the find. Rosen made it clear in this letter that in his opinion it was THE finest card from that 1986 discovery. I kid you not.
To this day (hard to believe it was 18 years ago) I considered myself truly blessed to have seen this card up close, not to mentioned many other items once owned by The Mick. Like, WOW.
I wish this gentleman nothing but success in this auction.

Great story.
Thanks for sharing.