Super high end Mantle cards

[Snapolit1]

It's hard for me to understand how Mantles 60s cards keep steadily appreciating in value. As well documented on the board, even in high grades they are not exactly scarce. And Mantle is not Babe Roth or Michael Jordan, his name is not a source of general cultural conversations these days. (Sure, baseball fans and Yankee fans of a certain age will wax poetic about Mantle, but it's not like he's coming up regularly at cocktail parties or at the beach bar.) I'm sure lots of men grew up like Billy Crystal and he was their idol of idols, but if you were a teen when he retired you are now pushing 70 if not above it. Can't believe a lot of people have been holding out with $400,000 to buy a Mantle card and today's the day they are going to pull the trigger.

Are these buyers just rich dudes trading up to a better Mantle, or are these now just basically investment assets (to parrot PWCC) like a house on the ocean? Just trying to understand. I get the Ruth mystique and even the Ty Cobb and Shoeless Joe endless fascination. And of course the importance of Jackie. Mantle mania has always been a mystery to me.

Why Mantle elevated far over Mays is an entirely different discussion.