1952 Topps Mantle; Worth It In Any Condition?

[brob28]

Originally Posted by MattyC

It all depends whom you talk to. I am 38 and my collecting friends are younger-- and we are all paying top dollar for the 1952 Mantle when a real pretty one surfaces. To desire and love the card, one doesn't have to be a boomer. Kids who grew up in the 1980's see it as an iconic piece for a collection. The dream card. Whereas the Wagner is not attainable. Those kids who grew up in the 80s will be competing for the nice ones for decades to come, even as the boomers phase out. Bottom line, there is a whole generation just entering prime earning years who look up to that card as much as the boomers did. Barring vagaries of the economy, I'd bet that anyone inclined to schadenfreude regarding this card will be waiting over a quarter century.

Also, one need not be a boomer to understand what Mantle was to America in a Post-War period when the country needed an icon, a matinee idol, a hero that looked every bit the part. Every time Mantle comes up, or his cards come up, there inevitably are collectors who point to his stats and scream, "Overvalued!" Yet they myopically miss the point and the larger picture. There are many intangibles when it comes to Mantle the man, his place in popular culture, and the hold that specific card-- the standard-bearer of the hobby to the generation who were kids in the 1980's. Many of us knew The Mantle, his 52 Topps, before we ever heard of The Wagner.

There is also a romantic, tragic angle to his story of such massive potential that went untapped and uncared for, and how he came to accept that, albeit too late. These are factors that transcend mere pop reports and the specious initial logic that holds in-person fans as the main or sole driver of demand for a player's cards. As someone said, the likes of Ruth, Gehrig, Shoeless, and Cobb would beg to differ there.

In the end, no one has a crystal ball, and probably most who own the card cherish it as a centerpiece of their collection-- and are much more concerned with enjoying it and the pleasure it brings, than what it might be sold for ten or twenty years from now. It seems the card hobby so often becomes about future prices and market trends, when, after all, these cherished pieces of Americana are not stocks.

While debating each cards merits is a part of the fun of this hobby, I agree 100% with your last paragraph and couldn't say it better. I've got plenty of cards, that I love and may take a bath on - I don't care I love the cards. Cheers