A Noteworthy Pair Of Mantle RC Sales - Re: Grades & Eye Appeal

[MattyC]

Last night's Memory Lane Auction featured a PSA 5 and PSA 4 Mickey Mantle RC.

The PSA 5 cost $6199, all in.
The PSA 4 cost $6190, all in.

To many, the PSA 4 had the superior eye appeal and centering, of the two offerings. It is interesting to note the effect of placing two cards in the same auction, with the lower grade card looking better, was not that the higher graded card sold for a depressed price (as the $6199 would be described as healthy).

Rather, the effect was that the market bid the lower-graded copy with superior eye appeal right up the the next full grade level.

Just thought this was an interesting case to observe. There was an interesting discussion as to how this would play out, in a thread over in another Net54 section a little ways back. It says a lot about how people are shopping, evaluating, and valuing cards these days, and the premium or behavior of a card in the market with strong eye appeal.

Editorially, I think it's great for a 'little old' card in grade X to command essentially the same price as the 'X + 1' grade. Congratulations go to the owners/sellers and also the buyers/winners of such a card. Likely a case of both parties being very happy, which is always nice.