When it comes to Mantle, is it better...

[swarmee]

I grew up in the 80s and 90s hearing the Mantle legends, so when I looked for something to focus on, I chose the PSA Mickey Mantle Master Set registry. In only a few years, I've now got about 150-175 different Mantle (and Yankee team) cards from his playing days (1951-69). Many you can buy for $20 each in VG, many are going to cost thousands.
But I'm having a lot of fun with it; got this banged up Bazooka this morning for $70:

1965 Topps Bazooka - [Base] #1 - Mickey Mantle [Poor]
Courtesy of COMC.com
Front is pretty clean (although cut poorly, common for the cards), but the back is destroyed. Will still get a PSA Authentic and go in the collection... ;-)

Adding a couple every month I enjoy more than saving $3,000 over the year and trying to buy one card at the end.

[brian1961]

Quantity versus quality will always be debatable. Either way has its benefits.
As several others have said, you are wise to decide what really makes you happy, given the budget you will be working with. As Jason wrote, finding cards and items that present well for the grade is sound wisdom.

There will often be collectors who find it useful to them, and their own self-centered ego, to criticize the way you collect, but with competition for Mickey Mantle cards being strong, and prices all over the spectrum, at least there seems to be a lot of Mantle to select from, and a price tag that is feasible.

It seems as though one cannot deliberate very long over a Mickey Mantle he wants, without someone else ready to rip it out of our clutches, and buy it before we can get it. Hang in there; again, there's a lot of period Mantle to choose from, and repeating myself again, buy Micks that you know you'll be happy with. You owe that to yourself as a hobbyist.

Here's a sincere wish for a happy hunting year! Take care. ---Brian Powell

[Promethius88]

I agree that it is all personal preference. I guess my philosophy is that the higher you go up with the price tag, the fewer who are going to be able to afford those, making the lower to mid grades a more solid purchase. With the "investor" side of high grade, that probably doesn't hold as much water as it used to. But also, as those higher graded cards get purchased and put back, collectors will have to start going down the quality ladder to get what is available.
Maybe start out with some lower grades then over time get some that are higher grades...selling out the lower grade to ease some of the pain of buying one a couple grades higher.
As you can see by the responses, personal preference varies and there is much to be said for each opinion. While i personally don't like oc cards, you can get some really nice ones for a fraction of the cost of their straight grade counterparts Personally I would rather have a centered card in a lower grade but seems like that is becoming more the norm causing prices to spike on the well centered stuff.
Best of luck in whatever road you choose and be sure to post pics!
Tim

[steve B]

There's some good advice above. I've always collected on a bit of a tight budget, even in the early 80's when everything was cheap.

It really is up to you. What goals do you have in collecting, what you can tolerate etc.
If you're looking at a long term collection - mine is a bit past 40 years depending on when you count from - and do want to consider that you might sell at some point, then buying the best you can afford isn't a bad way to go. Better cards sell easier and sell easier still in better condition.
Short term better cards are an even better play. Being high bidder on a worn card means probably having to wait at least a couple years before it will be worth enough to not lose money.

But if you're less worried about that as I am, then it's pretty much anything goes. I have stuff ranging from totally wrecked to really nice. (I don't think I have any PSA 10s, but there is a 9 somewhere from one of those graded card in each pack Edge products) I basically pick up what catches my eye, and seems like a good deal for what it is.

Every time I've gone to a show with a goal in mind, there aren't any of what I want at a price I like.

[swarmee]

Originally Posted by steve B

then buying the best you can afford isn't a bad way to go. Better cards sell easier and sell easier still in better condition.
Short term better cards are an even better play. Being high bidder on a worn card means probably having to wait at least a couple years before it will be worth enough to not lose money.

I find the opposite to be true for the vast majority of cards. Sure, HOFers in high grade normally rise, but high grade commons in some sets have plummeted. Check the thread I created when PSA came out with their Auction Prices Realized tool; the 1952 PSA 8-9s that averaged $10,000 in 2008 or so sold for $2,000 each in 2010.
I think there's more financial upside in oddball and rare issues, personally. We still haven't had a stock market crash in 10 years. So maybe the best plan for a new collector who hasn't decided yet is to save up money when collectors liquidate during a crash?

[steve B]

Originally Posted by swarmee

I find the opposite to be true for the vast majority of cards. Sure, HOFers in high grade normally rise, but high grade commons in some sets have plummeted. Check the thread I created when PSA came out with their Auction Prices Realized tool; the 1952 PSA 8-9s that averaged $10,000 in 2008 or so sold for $2,000 each in 2010.
I think there's more financial upside in oddball and rare issues, personally. We still haven't had a stock market crash in 10 years. So maybe the best plan for a new collector who hasn't decided yet is to save up money when collectors liquidate during a crash?

I'd have to wonder why that happened. Did the high prices bring out a lot of nice cards for grading? Or did the few people who could afford to try for a 52 set in 8-9 complete sets or give up? 8-9 I'd think is primarily a registry competition thing and once the few really tough cards are locked up in a couple collections the competition that drove prices stops.


I'm nowhere near on that league, so even at 2,000 they wouldn't fall into the "best I can afford" category.

I was thinking more along the lines of whether I wait for a 5 or buy a 4 now. Or maybe even take a chance on a nice looking card and send it in myself. (Or just buying it and not bothering with grading)

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by steve B

I'd have to wonder why that happened. Did the high prices bring out a lot of nice cards for grading? Or did the few people who could afford to try for a 52 set in 8-9 complete sets or give up? 8-9 I'd think is primarily a registry competition thing and once the few really tough cards are locked up in a couple collections the competition that drove prices stops.


I'm nowhere near on that league, so even at 2,000 they wouldn't fall into the "best I can afford" category.

I was thinking more along the lines of whether I wait for a 5 or buy a 4 now. Or maybe even take a chance on a nice looking card and send it in myself. (Or just buying it and not bothering with grading)

The reason some cards are or were low pop purely had to do with centering. I suspect that when the demand became really high from ego-driven registry guys, people either pressured PSA to give some borderline cards 8s, and/or trimmed and got some through. And as supply increased, prices eventually came down to earth. That, plus set collecting seems generally to have dropped at least in high grades.

[JollyElm]

The 'problem' with Mickey Mantle overall is his stature within the collecting world and his eminence in the non-baseball community as a whole. He simply exists in his own universe. The point being, no matter what card you look for (say, on ebay), it's going to be way overpriced (as compared to other HOF'ers from his era). You have to dig, dig, dig to find anything priced even nearly 'accurately.' (I'm sure with lower conditioned cards, it's not as ridiculous, but still.) So, you have to add that reality to the equation, and it becomes, "Do you want to overpay for quantity or do you want to severely overpay for quality?"

[jb67]

For me when collecting Mick I go with the lower grade cards that I enjoy looking at on a regular basis. Having said that I do collect high grade cards of Johnny Bench.

I think you have to go with what you will enjoy looking at on a regular basis. For me I would rather look at many lower grade Micks instead of 1 or 2 high grade Micks. Here is a sampling of some of my low grade cards that I thoroughly enjoy looking at on a regular basis.