So I started a Mickey Mantle "project"......

[DJCollector1]

Originally Posted by vintagebaseballcardguy

That '69 looks pretty good, especially considering it was in a SGC 3 holder. Any creasing? I couldn't see any. Nice job.

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Thanks... I'm extremely happy with it.
I looked at a TON of '69s, '60s , '55 Bowmans and a few other issues I didn't have examples of, for inclusion into my project. My object was to keep the cost very low, but over time it crept up a bit, with a select few cards being more expensive than the others.
I wanted a nice '55 Bowman pretty bad, but ultimately I needed to go with another vertical card, so I chose the '69. (Layout/space concerns)
It may have a very faint, slight wrinkle near the top, but truthfully to me it doesn't matter. As long as it has fair eye appeal, that was what I was really looking for.
As luck would have it, I got this '69 from fellow board member Dboneesq. Thanks again sir.
I actually almost wanted to just keep it in the slab and tuck it away, but I figured I wouldn't be finding many '69s that looked as decent as that one... in that price range anyway. Centering is flat brutal on the '69s generally. Besides, just tucking away another card for my PC, that defeats the purpose of this.
That said, I went ahead and cracked it out, and into the display it will go.

I knew from the beginning, I wasn't exactly going to have any super high grade cards for my framed display...for 2 reasons.
A - This is going to be something I can enjoy on a daily basis. I didn't exactly want, nor expect to have a bunch of PSA 9s. This will be something that can "scratch my card itch" if you will regularly. I don't know how many here keep their more expensive items just "lying around", but I certainly don't.

B - My more valuable items are safely tucked away, far from my residence. My collection is very small and modest compared to most here, as I just started picking up a few items here and there a year or two back. But I wanted something I could enjoy, without worry.


There is but one piece to this puzzle left, and it will be a little bit more expensive. Plus, I may take a bit longer deciding which particular item I actually get. There's a few around, I'm just wanting to make sure I get something that fits "the look" so to speak.
Then off to a trusted local frame shop, and see what they have to say.
I may have mentioned it, but the local shop near me is very well known, and has worked on some very important projects occasionally.
They aren't cheap, but it will definitely look good.

Hopefully I can wrap this up in a couple weeks.

[DJCollector1]

Well, that took longer than expected.
Sometimes life gets in the way, but better late than never. I wanted to be done with this 2 months ago or so, but it has dragged on longer than anticipated.

This is the last piece I wanted to include, and will go right in the framed display I am getting done. (Actually, I looked over a bunch of similar signed cards and items, and I ultimately settled on this one)





Off to the frame shop in a few days, and hopefully I get it back in a couple weeks.


This was a lot of fun getting the "right items" for my project/wants , and it took a while....... but it will be worth it soon enough.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by DJCollector1

Well, that took longer than expected.
Sometimes life gets in the way, but better late than never. I wanted to be done with this 2 months ago or so, but it has dragged on longer than anticipated.

This is the last piece I wanted to include, and will go right in the framed display I am getting done. (Actually, I looked over a bunch of similar signed cards and items, and I ultimately settled on this one)





Off to the frame shop in a few days, and hopefully I get it back in a couple weeks.


This was a lot of fun getting the "right items" for my project/wants , and it took a while....... but it will be worth it soon enough.

What made you choose that one over the others?

[DJCollector1]

Originally Posted by bnorth

What made you choose that one over the others?

There are usually a few signed index cards floating around on Ebay at any given time to choose from.
Some have little "headshot" pictures, some are personalized, are "signed cut" scraps, are multi signed or various other little attributes. (Plus, although I will soon snag an autographed baseball card for my PC, I wanted an older style plain index card for this...... NOT a signed baseball card)
Its hard to tell from my poor cell phone picture, but this is an older example. I'm going to assume its from the late 70's or early 80s, judging from the index card and the toning. (Plus its in pen, and I wanted that over a pencil or Sharpie)
This one was close to what I was expecting in price too.

I'm not really sure if you watch the examples that come up for sale, but a couple months ago there was a VERY OLD Mantle signed slip of paper that came up. It was one of those with the very large "older style Mantle signed cursive M's", and you don't see the very old ones like that come up often. I figured it was from the 1950's.......
I really wanted to snag that one, but there was some absurd price on it, like $1,500 or something crazy. (Hell it may have even been in pencil too, I can't remember after looking at so many of these for months and months)


Looking back, I wish I'd have gotten 1-2 different cards. I really wanted to include a '55 Bowman, but it just didn't work out. (Plus I wanted to keep it on a semblance of a budget)
I might look over this stuff again and lay it all out, and if I'm not happy with it, who knows......... might just pick up a '55 Bowman yet.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by DJCollector1

There are usually a few signed index cards floating around on Ebay at any given time to choose from.
Some have little "headshot" pictures, some are personalized, are "signed cut" scraps, are multi signed or various other little attributes. (Plus, although I will soon snag an autographed baseball card for my PC, I wanted an older style plain index card for this...... NOT a signed baseball card)
Its hard to tell from my poor cell phone picture, but this is an older example. I'm going to assume its from the late 70's or early 80s, judging from the index card and the toning. (Plus its in pen, and I wanted that over a pencil or Sharpie)
This one was close to what I was expecting in price too.

I'm not really sure if you watch the examples that come up for sale, but a couple months ago there was a VERY OLD Mantle signed slip of paper that came up. It was one of those with the very large "older style Mantle signed cursive M's", and you don't see the very old ones like that come up often. I figured it was from the 1950's.......
I really wanted to snag that one, but there was some absurd price on it, like $1,500 or something crazy. (Hell it may have even been in pencil too, I can't remember after looking at so many of these for months and months)


Looking back, I wish I'd have gotten 1-2 different cards. I really wanted to include a '55 Bowman, but it just didn't work out. (Plus I wanted to keep it on a semblance of a budget)
I might look over this stuff again and lay it all out, and if I'm not happy with it, who knows......... might just pick up a '55 Bowman yet.

It is cool to see how peoples auto evolve over time. The early 50s one is my favorite Mantle.

Pick up the 55 Bowman, it is one of his nicest looking cards IMO.

[DJCollector1]

So, in my project that has evolved slightly........ I added another pickup in the last few days.
I have been "tinkering" with how I am going to frame this thing, and its "changed sizes" a couple of times, leading to another card or two to include.


I nabbed this '58 Batting Foes Mantle/Aaron this week.
The cell pics don't do it justice, it has excellent image clarity, which is tough for this issue. Snow is almost always a problem.
The centering isn't great, but better image quality on this one was more important to me.







I have room for one more horizontal card, and some of you may have noticed in the BST I am looking for a '55 Bowman.


Hopefully I can find one soon that fits the bill.
This has pretty much come together, and I should be done after one more pick up.......... FINALLY~!

[DJCollector1]

Just got in my last grab for this project, which took longer than anticipated.

Didn't detract from the fun though.



I liked the centering of this '55 Bowman , but it obviously has its faults. (the glare on the right side is just lighting)
There is a slight wrinkle near the bottom that doesn't detract from the card too terribly..... and of course you have the chipping which damn near every '55 Bowman has, at least in varying amounts anyway.

Not the highest grading type, but it fit my bill of the "well worn but respectable appeal" variety.

It was damn tough to find a decent looking '55 Bowman under $200. The vast majority have MAJOR ISSUES but I was really happy with this one.

Now I'm dropping everything off at my local frame shop in a day or two, and it will be good to finally get this thing done and framed so I can enjoy it.

This has been a great "diversion" from all the gloom and doom trimming issues, and more recently the Corona virus and stock market ridiculousness going on.