O/T autographed '53 Topps Mantle

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Posted By: William Brumbach

I like autographed cards as well. The signed Ryan rookie with Koosman both in ballpoint sounds awesome to me. I have a 1966 Jenkins I just got signed but can't find sufficient information on Bill Sorrell, the other player on the card, to get that half signed. I think that multiplayer cards not signed by all of the players pictured look cheesy and incomplete.

I am currently working on autographed 1952 and 1953 Topps sets. There was a slabbed 1953 Topps Mantle in eBay recently with an "Auto Grade" of 9 with a BIN for $3500, too much in my opinion. Honestly, you would probably have a harder time finding a poorly signed Mantle auto. For all of the stories about what kind of drunk jerk he was, he signed consistently high quality signatures, at least what I have seen. There was also a Sharpie signed 1953 Topps Mantle in the 2005 REA but I have been told that two bidders with ultra-deep pockets ran the card up. I forget what it ended at but I think it was over $5000, or in that neighborhood.

I would think that something in the $2000 area is more realistic, depending on signature quality and card presentation. I have seen more 1952 Topps Mantle autographs than 1953 in the 3-4 years that I have been collecting autographs like this. 1953 Topps is a very popular set to collect autographed and there are close a dozen different bidders on eBay that I bid against often. The cards are bright and provide great contrast to the signatures, it is relatively smaller in size and more managable than other contemporary sets, there are no checklists or multiplayer cards, and a signed set could be realistically put together given time.

I realize that none of this is the focus of the forum but it is what I am primarily collecting now and it is rare that I can spout off about it. My wife doesn't really care about the unfortunate fates of Howie Fox, Snuffy Stirnwiess, Vern Bickford, or Karl Drews.