The 1952 Topps Mantle is Overpriced and Over-hyped

[npa589]

Thank you so much for this - but now you have me intrigued enough to ask - what is your favorite Mantle?

Originally Posted by brian1961

I will speak from experience. When I was 18 in 1972, and just beginning in the adult card collecting hobby, I was very privileged my dear mother helped me go to my first card show: the big Midwest Sports Collectors Convention in Troy, Michigan. I saw so many wondrous cards; it was overload to the max. I honestly don't recall if I saw a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle there or not.

However, I did get to meet Mr. Larry Fritsch. He was a nice man and very knowledgeable about cards. He was making a name for himself as a big dealer. Well, late that year, right after Christmas in fact, I wrote a letter to Larry expressing my desire for a really nice 1952 Mickey Mantle. I'm sure I figured if anyone had one, he would. Years earlier I'd written to Bruce Yeko at Wholesale Cards, and he did not have one, but said if he did it would be $20, a whopper of a price to me. So, I waited to see what Larry Fritsch had to say.

Early in 1973, I received his return letter. He was very nice. He told me he had just one left, in mint condition, and he would sell it to me for $25. He also said he'd hold it for me until I responded. His asking price seemed very fair, by this time. I didn't have twenty-five bucks. As a high school senior, and a track runner, I had no money. By this time, my mother was a widow. Money was tight. I suppose I felt in my guts this would be my only chance to get this Mickey. I wanted it very badly. I somehow convinced my dear Mom this would be a dream card for me. I don't recall our exact conversation, but she agreed, and sent Mr. Fritsch a check.

Within ten days, a small husky brown padded package arrived. When I opened it, I was overwhelmed with how beautiful the card was. The colors were so intense. The picture registry was perfect. There wasn't a print spot to be found at all. The centering was not perfect, but most acceptable, just a tsch shy of 60-40 both ways. The condition was probably EX-MT. I was way, way more than satisfied. You can best be sure I thanked, hugged, and kissed my dear mother for her kindness and sacrifice.

I tried to take as good of care of it as I knew how. I looked at it every so often, but not all the time. Maybe I didn't want it to become routine to my eyes. Anyway, it was always, and I mean ALWAYS, a big thrill to see it. Eventually, 23 years later, married with a son, living in a very hot in the summer, and very cold in the winter, 100+ year-old upstairs apartment, I knew I had to do something to get us out of there. It was time to raise some money for a down payment on a house. So, among some of my cherished cards, the '52 Topps Mickey Mantle was consigned to a Mr. Mint Alan Rosen phone auction. After his cut, I got a little over $8,000 for that card. Sure, it was hard, but my family and I couldn't live any longer in those conditions. I wanted to add that my dearest darling did not demand I sell the '52 Topps Mantle masterpiece; it was my own decision. I loved my dear wife and son that much. They were worth it.

I cannot answer if the card is over-priced today. I was never able to replace mine. Do I miss it?

What do you think? Many a day I've missed it.

Any regrets?

No.

As far as whether the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle is over-hyped, I would definitely say it is hyped as much as it should be. I love Mickey Mantle, and his '52 Topps was my co-favorite card of his, or at least my second favorite Mantle. My co-favorite Mantle, or favorite Mick, was a card I would not sell when deciding what to part with to raise funds for a home. I much more favored that one because I KNEW there wasn't another as nice, and KNEW I'd never be able to replace it. I'm getting off the subject; excuse me.

Again, the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle is a mesmerizing baseball card. I love how it looks. A perfect card. The demand will very likely always be more than the supply.

---Brian Powell

[brian1961]

Thank you so much for this - but now you have me intrigued enough to ask - what is your favorite Mantle?[/QUOTE]

Howdy, Nate. I'm sorry to respond to you so late. My actual favorite Mickey Mantle card is a 1953 Stahl-Meyer Franks, graded PSA 9 MINT. My son and his wife are back at their home; otherwise, I'd have him load up a scan for you. There is a way to find the picture I staged of the card for my E-book on a CD, Never Cheaper By the Dozen, on-line, but that would take a while to describe, and I have to hurry, eat, and go to work. Nate, thanks for asking, buddy. I was thinking my tinzie reference flew over everyone's head. Have a great one.

---Brian Powell

[samosa4u]

Before the pandemic, you could have purchased a PSA 1 example for around $10,000 USD and now it's worth around $40,000 USD, and that's around a 4x price increase in a short period of time. But a PSA 4 has only doubled in value. For example, if you had spent $30,000 USD on one before the pandemic, then today it's worth around $60,000 USD or so. If you had spent $100,000 USD on a PSA 6 before the pandemic, well now it's worth ... wait for it ... about the same price! Does that make any sense to you? You would think that if an ugly PSA 1 has gone up 4x, then a PSA 6 or a PSA 7 should be worth $400,000 - $600,000 USD, right? But nope, that's not how it works! The real winners here are those who kept their ugly ones, and of course, those who bought this card in PSA 8 (or higher) prior to the pandemic.

[jchcollins]

As with other cards and other collectibles, certain things in their journeys happen to make them go from just being a card to being iconic. Sometimes those things aren't "fair" in terms of what does or does not happen to other cards, collectibles, or players. All I know is that by the time the hobby was full-blown retail with multiple shops in most towns (1985 and later for me) the '52 Topps Mantle had already achieved that status. Though it was pictured in many magazines and books about the hobby, I never saw one in the flesh until about 1990, I think - at a show in Charlotte, NC. It was an EX-ish card that the guy wanted 5 grand for. My Dad just laughed. Little did either of us know what a bargain that would have turned out to be...

I was born too late unfortunately to have any real shot at that card becoming a reality for me. My personal grail is the '56 Mantle - which I first saw in a Tide book with the Yankees team sets at some point in the late 1980's. I've owned one since I was about 13.

[MattyC]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

Before the pandemic, you could have purchased a PSA 1 example for around $10,000 USD and now it's worth around $40,000 USD, and that's around a 4x price increase in a short period of time. But a PSA 4 has only doubled in value. For example, if you had spent $30,000 USD on one before the pandemic, then today it's worth around $60,000 USD or so. If you had spent $100,000 USD on a PSA 6 before the pandemic, well now it's worth ... wait for it ... about the same price! Does that make any sense to you? You would think that if an ugly PSA 1 has gone up 4x, then a PSA 6 or a PSA 7 should be worth $400,000 - $600,000 USD, right? But nope, that's not how it works! The real winners here are those who kept their ugly ones, and of course, those who bought this card in PSA 8 (or higher) prior to the pandemic.

Two 5s that weren't even centered just went for 156k and 180k. How is a 6 -- especially if centered-- worth 100k? A great 6 is 250-300k. A great 3 dead centered went for $163,000 also.

[pokerplyr80]

A PSA 2 just went for 81k in April at Huggins and Scott. And it was a decent, but not great example for the grade.

The numbers quoted above are way out of date. And there hasn't been a dead centered example sold with eye appeal that I've seen since that 3 Matt mentioned. The next one auctioned will shatter VCP records for the grade. 2x all time high or so (unless that grade happens to be a 3).

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

Before the pandemic, you could have purchased a PSA 1 example for around $10,000 USD and now it's worth around $40,000 USD, and that's around a 4x price increase in a short period of time. But a PSA 4 has only doubled in value. For example, if you had spent $30,000 USD on one before the pandemic, then today it's worth around $60,000 USD or so. If you had spent $100,000 USD on a PSA 6 before the pandemic, well now it's worth ... wait for it ... about the same price! Does that make any sense to you? You would think that if an ugly PSA 1 has gone up 4x, then a PSA 6 or a PSA 7 should be worth $400,000 - $600,000 USD, right? But nope, that's not how it works! The real winners here are those who kept their ugly ones, and of course, those who bought this card in PSA 8 (or higher) prior to the pandemic.

If you look at the entire market there has been a massive tightening up of prices between 1 and 5. Where a 5 used to be many multiples of a 1, now it may only be double. This has been market-wide in post war vintage HOF'ers and rookies.

[samosa4u]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/20394360578...sAAOSwZ21idKZP

This nice PSA 2.5 just went for $56,769 USD.

[pokerplyr80]

That was a nice 2.5, nicer than the 2 that went for 80k. Hard to explain the difference between the two, unless people just missed that ebay auction. But the centering was off and that isn't the type that would go for a huge premium for the grade.

The last 6 went for 150k 3 months ago, and centering was about as bad as it gets. If a nice, dead centered 6 came up today I would expect 300+. But those don't come around very often.

[samosa4u]

https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball/1...ription-071515

Another recent sale - nice PSA 4 for $90,133 USD.

Alright, a PSA 6 is probably more than $100,000 USD , but no way quarter of a mill or higher. We'll see what the next one brings in.

The bottom line is that, instead of having spent $100,000 USD on a PSA 6 Mantle prior to the pandemic, imagine if you had invested that money into basketball or soccer or even Pokemon? You'd have a million today! Seriously, what's $50,000 or even $100,000 USD profit? It's peanuts!! Look what's going on with modern cards (which makes up like ninety-five percent of the hobby, by the way. ) What is LeBron's Exquisite at now? A few mill? What will Steph Curry's National Treasures be worth if he wins another title? A mill? What about Doncic or even Charizard?

[jingram058]

A few more months of high as Hell prices for everything and gas as well, we'll see where things like baseball cards go. Those deep pockets might just dry up.