Do you believe there are any undervalued Mantle items?

[AustinMike]

Originally Posted by brian1961

PS--The 1960 Post Cereal was the very first Mickey Mantle card I ever saw. I've got a very compelling story about the experience in my forthcoming book, NEVER CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN. I don't want to tell it here for obvious reasons, and it may not be that compelling of a tale to some, but it left a huge impression on me as a little 6-year old boy. Did you happen to see the photo of an example PSA graded AUTHENTIC? The owner cut it on the inside black frame where it just shows the picture, and no wooden frame to be seen. Kinda like a beautiful Bengal Tiger with his teeth pulled out. Made me sick.

Yes, I did see it. It made me very sad, but not sick. I can imagine some kid at the time thinking the frame was unnecessary and doing away with it. Considering these were free on the back of cereal boxes, I figure there's nothing to feel sick about some kid making the card the way he wanted. It's sad that that was the fate of that particular card, but mine ended up in the dump. Which is worse? Like you, I was 6 when these came out in 1960. When I think about it, I'm sure the condition of my post cereal cards was not that great. I'd be willing to bet that I let the scissors stray inside the border. I handled mine constantly so I'm sure there were creases, bent corners, etc. Instead of feeling sick about it, I marvel that any survived in decent condition.