PSA 9 52 Topps Mantle sells for $5.2M

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Prices like this scare me, as a collector, because I worry that I am going to be shut out of a whole range of additional cards due to price increases. I've wanted a 52 Mantle for a while and with this price on a 9, what's a 2 going to cost? Should I drop $20K-$30K for a beater now, just in case? Not just Mantle--look at the 1952 Topps Robinson lately. My beater is a four-figure card now. I questioned spending $700 on a PSA 3 1954 Aaron a few years ago but I did it; now a $3,500-$4,000 card. I got so frustrated with pricing in the late 2000s that I stopped collecting baseball cards almost entirely and shifted to the other sports and to baseball ephemera because they were cheaper. It feels like it is happening all over again. That's why I cannot applaud the latest, greatest sales.

Totally agree! I was perusing an old "traders speak" rag the other night from fall 1980. I was heavy into collecting at this time...but mainly 50's-present.
There were no fewer than 5-6 52 topps mantles available for sale or through auction...ex-mt copies advertised for around 3K...lesser ones in the 1K range. The prices were out of my reach then...just as now!!!

I've passed on so many cards the last 5-8 years that held in the maybe $1500 and less range...and were always available on ebay...ruth strips...goudey ruths...cobb dietsches...joe d's...gehrig/ruth exhibits...and t206 cobbs...they were everywhere all the time!!!!!!

Now they're hoarded in "portfolios!"

In the 40 years since the issue of that trader speaks issue...the hobby has changed, A LOT...40 years before the issue...there was no hobby! What will it be like in 40 more years? Will all t206 cobbs be over 100K??? Or will they all be worth landfill?