Rosen 1952 Topps Find

[jchcollins]

Yeah, the gloves are silly. I pointed that out as well when I first saw that picture on another thread. I think they were "unveiling" it wherever it was being displayed, and they did that for ooh's and aah's from the audience that was assembled. I think of more importance than using gloves, would be to get that slab into some kind of UV protected shell or something. Maybe they cared for that in the glass they put it behind.

[samosa4u]

I have mixed feelings over this 1952 Topps Find.

I understand that they weren't insanely popular when he bought them, after all, he couldn't get the money he wanted for the Mantles and sold ten OC examples for only $10,000 USD. I also understand that he paid $125,000 USD for the whole thing and I'm not sure how many dealers were willing to do that back then. However, in the end he grossed about half a million dollars. Is this the biggest robbery that ever took place in the hobby? What are your thoughts?

[GasHouseGang]

If you mean did Al Rosen rob the original owner, I guess I would have to give a qualified "no". I'm sure he made money on the find, but not an outrageous amount, and he was taking a risk with his money. He had to quickly turn the cards he had acquired, and that meant paying for advertising in the trade publications, on top of the price he paid to acquire them. His main risk was that by dropping all of these cards on the market at once he would water down the prices he could expect to receive. Which I guess is initially what happened with the Mantle. So he was blowing out 1952 Topps Mantles. That is an unbelievable consequence to realize at this point in history. If he could have held them long term, and sell them off slowly, he would have made much more money. But his business model was always to buy and then sell quickly. One article I read said he borrowed money to make the purchase. If that's true then that would mean he needed to sell the cards in order to pay off his lenders.

[Foo3112]

Personally, I don't think he robbed anyone. Sure, he made a killing in profit but he certainly didn't rob anyone. The seller and him came to an agreement and money was exchanged. As it was mentioned, Rosen took a big risk as well since vintage baseball cards weren't viewed as the investment they are today. Not sure why so many people get sour over this. If anything, we all dream about just owning one of those in just about any condition. He was a lucky SOB if anything.

[samosa4u]

You two make some good points.

I didn't know he had to take out a loan. He obviously had to pay interest on it. And yes, I'm assuming he had to pay quite a bit to advertise his big find. We also have to look at travelling as well - did he have to fly out to a few places to sell these? And finally, yes, there was that big risk involved. He sold them all off pretty quickly and this hurt the prices as a result. Also, holding them long-term would have been a risky move as well.

[300dw123]

He did drop Mantles to $2000! On the next page you could buy a "Limited Edition" Jose Canseco silk cachet for only $15.00

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by 300dw123

He did drop Mantles to $2000! On the next page you could buy a "Limited Edition" Jose Canseco silk cachet for only $15.00

Not a big fan of Mr Mantle but I would have loved one of those Gem Mint Eddie Mathews for $650.

[1963Topps Set]

Interesting... no Tony Bartirome listed!

[irv]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Not a big fan of Mr Mantle but I would have loved one of those Gem Mint Eddie Mathews for $650.

You and me both!!

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by 300dw123

He did drop Mantles to $2000! On the next page you could buy a "Limited Edition" Jose Canseco silk cachet for only $15.00

OK, I'll bite. Are those your notes and did you pull the trigger?

[300dw123]

Those are my father's notes and he did purchase an "off-grade" Mantle for $1500 from the find that would probably grade a 5-6. He bought twice before they were gone and spent 10K in total. He sold a bunch of them about 5 years later to fund my sister's wedding. About the Gem Mint, I believe they were 8-10s with no "conservation necessary". They were razor-sharp and memorably bold. I still remember holding a Smoky Burgess and thinking that it looked much better than cards we were pulling from vending boxes at the time. If I remember correctly a good bit of Charlie Merkel's set is from Rosen.