Is 1956 Topps Mantle the most overpriced card in the hobby?

[packs]

Personally I find Mantle's 1957 Topps card his absolute worst. For a guy who had a ton of personality, his 57 Topps looks like it was taken at a morgue.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by packs

Personally I find Mantle's 1957 Topps card his absolute worst. For a guy who had a ton of personality, his 57 Topps looks like it was taken at a morgue.

To me his '57 is iconic, if for no other reason than when I first got interested in vintage cards in the 1980's - that image was everywhere. It seemed to be featured in many issues of Baseball Cards magazine and BBCM, etc.

I will agree the picture and production quality isn't fantastic. The card is overly dark, which leads to a lot of the print snow crap problems on the image itself, and in reality as with many other '57 Topps it's hard to find anywhere within shouting distance of centered. Adding to the problem with the dark image, many of them have what I call the "green / brown" vibe, which I don't think is attractive. However, some '57 Mantles instead of the green / brown present more in blue / green - and IMO these cards when centered decently look great.

I had been in search of a '57 Mantle with the qualities I was looking for forever, and finally found it earlier this year. I got a centered SGC 2, with some small creasing at the bottom that is not super noticeable and was tolerable to me. While it's not as "blue / green" on the image as I would like - it's more like that than green / brown and the image focus is sharp enough for me, so I bought it.

[D. Bergin]

In regards to 1955 Bowman's. I think it's the best of both worlds. Both, one of the ugliest mainstream sets of the modern-ish era, and also one of the most interesting and neat looking sets.

I love the clean look of the 1953 Bowman's and 1957 Topps, but also love the garish border designs on the 1955 Bowman and 1972 and 1975 Topps sets for some reason.

As for the 1956 Mantle, it serves as a return to Topps from Mantle, and while I'm not as big a fan of the design as others...it is still an objectively pretty awesome looking card.

[MantleMarisFordBerra]

That's my favorite card. I personally think the 56T set is the most beautiful of that era. Love the bright colors, the action shot combined with the portrait & printed autograph. And as others have pointed out it's his first Topps card in a couple years and it comes from his best season. Lot to like about that card and I anticipate it'll always be in high demand.

And I do love the 55 Bowman set as well! The Color TV concept is such a time capsule of that era.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Outstanding card in every way.

[chaddgar]

Something about the '56 Mantle just screams "1950s" to me. The smile, the action shot, and knowing it was his Triple Crown year make it very special. How many kids proudly showed mom and dad that Mantle card that year?

I picked one up a PSA 2 for $200 in 2016. Crazy now that it's $900-$1000, but I'm not selling anytime soon. It's one of my favorite cards.

[Johnny630]

I love the 56 Mickey Mantle Gray Back except when it has that darn little black dot in the print on some of them.

[90feetaway]

They are not particularly rare in that sense of being over valued and I think Topps ones just seem more popular that the Bowman's. On the other hand as others said, it has a lot going for it: Smiling Mickey (other 50s Topps are serious or more a half smile), action scene taking a HR away, triple crown yr and facsimile auto. By the way, IMO, the 55 Bowman doesn't even really look like him.