Could be the first 1955 Mascot Dog Food Cards of Mantle and Berra. Any Info?

[chuckw]

Can anyone help provide information on the 1955 Mascot Dog Food Cards? I was lucky to pick up the Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra from this set and from what I have found out, these may be the first of these two cards to ever be found/seen. In fact, I have not been able to find any cards from this set come up for sale. The big vintage price guide has a photo of a Robin Roberts card with information that there appear to be 8 cards in the set from the back of the card but there is no price list. The back of the Berra is the same as the Roberts in the price guide, but the back of the Mantle references 11 cards. It really seems like I may have the only known cards of Mantle and Berra to be found. Any information on this set and the rarity of these cards would be much appreciated!!!

[Neal]

wow, those are nice!
Never seen those before

[chuckw]

it seems like the grading companies haven't seen the Mantle or Berra before either - in fact I'm not sure any have been graded. It really seems like the Robin Roberts was the only other card from this set that was known because it was shown in the big vintage guides. Maybe anyone who got one of the cards mailed it in for the deal described on the back (an autographed 8x10, member card, pin, and full postcard set). If they would have fulfilled that offer, you'd think we'd see some of those items periodically, so maybe the dog food company didn't last long. Very cool to think that it could be the rarest Mantle card out there! ... and Yogi too. I figured this would be the place to ask for help with any information on this set or these cards (thanks in advance!).

[quitcrab]

Very cool... Never seen that before and I have been playing with baseball cards for 46 years !

[stlcardsfan]

Could be an incredible find, Chuck! Care to share the story behind these cards?

[chuckw]

I got the cards recently from an antique dealer friend in Pennsylvania. Another antique dealer purchased them in an estate - the cards were stored in an album of antique photographs for 50+ years (it looked like the album/cards were never touched in years). The back of the cards indicate that Mascot Dog Food was out of Philadelphia, not far from where the cards were found. Makes sense to see a Philadelphia Phillies player as the only known example. It would be great to find out more information about how long Mascot Dog Food was in business. Do you think these are so rare because anyone who had them would have sent them in for the great redemption package they offered or because the dog food company may have gone under? Maybe both, and maybe they were limited to begin with. In my research I have not found any cards other than the Roberts in the price guide and I have not found any of those other redemption items. Somewhere there must be information. I did find a couple web blogs where collectors indicated that it is a regional set they'd love to find, so some collectors must know about them. I never thought I would stumble upon a one of a kind Mantle card from the 1950s!

[jason.1969]

Am not a Mantle collector at all, but this price strikes me as a steal. Whether it's the move to PSA described above or something else, I would not be shocked at all to see this card at $100K in no time.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J327A using Tapatalk