OT-$282,587 for a Mantle PSA 9

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Posted By: Paul

I will never understand why someone would pay $500K to $1M for a PSA 10 and "only" $280K for a PSA9 when the only difference between the two is the mood of the graders who reviewed the card, or the identities of the people who submitted them. You have to have an astonishing faith in the skills of the graders to believe that each PSA 10 is actually in better condition than each PSA 9. And that faith has to be almost religious in nature when you realize that you can't even verify for yourself that the 10 is actually in better shape than the 9 because both are encased in plastic, concealing subtle flaws.

I've also always been amazed at the relative multitude of high grade 52 Topps Mantles. I seem to remember there being some 52 Topps cards with only a single PSA8 and none higher. (Maybe this has changed recently; I don't follow it closely). Yet Mantle has had 3 PSA10s for as long as I can remember (I actually thought there were 4), and several PSA9s as well, and I don't know how many high grades from SGC. Seems strange. I know there's more incentive to submit high grade Mantles, but with the crazy prices that high grade 52 Topps "commons" will yield, I'd be surprised if there are too many Mint and Gem Mint Herman Wehmeier cards waiting to be graded.

With all that said, I obviously agree it's a nice card. Personally, if I had $280K to spend, I'd rather buy the Baltimore Ruth that sold for about 50K less than that, and use the difference to buy a Peck & Snyder Reds card, and still have a little chump change left over to buy a couple of mid-gride Old Judge Cabinet Hall of Famers. Or maybe I'd stock up on Hall of Famers from G&B, Yum Yum, and the N175 large set. But that's just me.