How much do you think 52 mantle should be worth?

[HaloFan]

I think one thing you have to consider is that there is a bias among the users of this board. Since most of us are very sophisticated collectors, we can't fathom why a card that's not rare be many times valuable than much rarer cards like '61 Dice Game and '68 3Ds. The problem with the latter mentioned sets is that they're so rare, they are mostly sought after only by esoteric collectors.

I will probably argue that the '52 Mantle not being scarce is probably a factor in why it has become so iconic. I know that if I need to sell off the one I have it's not a big deal because if I have the money, I can acquire another one fairly easily. There is a guy on this board that says he's bought and sold a '52 Mantle in various conditions many times and that's because he can! If I have a card from the '61 Dice Game set, once I sell it, it's going to be much harder to replace it no matter how much money I have.

The '52 Mantle reportedly had iconic status from way back. I think Ted Z once said it was big deal in 1952, so its place in the hobby will probably stay there. On this board it may not be a big deal, but to other casual collectors and even non-collectors the card is very significant.

Craig

[ALR-bishop]

Craig---I think you make great points. I have completed the 67 Punch out set and am about done with the 67 ( scarcer than the 64s) Stand Ups. I have the two Mantle pose variations in the Punch Outs and the 67 Mantle Stand Up. I also have a set of the 67 Discs with the Mantle. All of these are much tougher than the 52 Mantle and yet I paid less for each of them than the 52s

The Punch Outs have small pictures and the discs have never been too popular, but the 67 Stand Up is a great Mantle picture. Still scarcity and lack of knowledge likely does hold down "demand"...and they are not part of an iconic set.

I do not have the 61 Dice Mantle, but have seen it sold twice for well under what a top condition 52 would get. I only have one of the Dice cards, Kaline.

I also picked up one of the Mantle Masks, listed in SCD as a 63 Topps send away. It is also really scarce ( and may not actually be a Topps product ) . I paid a lot for it, but know of one that went unsold on ebay for .99 cents due I think to to a poor description.

One of the 52 Mantles I have is ungraded, from my younger days, and might grade a 3-4. The other, which I got to get the 2nd variation is an OC 8. Almost all of my cards and sets are ungraded for album display purposes

It can be argued all day that the 52 is overpriced, but if it keeps selling at high prices even in a down economy, that is all that really counts if you want one

[smtjoy]

Nice thread, I think its a great iconic card and would love to have one in my collection and one day will buy or trade for one.

I do think its a bit overpriced but not sure it will go down at all but I just dont see it going much higher in the future other than the 9-10's which will keep rising.

The PSA pop on it is over 1000 graded with over 200 PSA 6 and above. Thats a lot of cards out there even with resubs. I dont see it as hard to get at all, anyone with the money can get one everyday, heck how many does 707 have for sale alone? Just checked ebay and there are 25 for sale today, common yes, desirable yes, expensive yes.

[glchen]

I think the card is overpriced. It's part of a great set, but not a rookie. In a way, I would compare it to a Cracker Jack Cobb card, which is a highly collected set and a highly desirable pose. It is even possible to compare it to the 1914 CJ Mathewson, which is also not a rookie, but a highly desirable pose within a popular set. I think the card should be priced at a 20% premium to a 52 Topps Mays card. That is, it deserves to be priced high, but just not that high. The card's already entered iconic status, so I doubt it'll go down much however.

[Volod]

Of course, TedZ is right that the card was a big deal even in 1952. Mantle was a prized rookie and a NY Yankee, so his first Topps card, in Topps first colorized, supersized set, made it an even bigger deal. About thirty years later, when millions of 1950's kids began to recollect as the hobby exploded in the early '80's, that card again became the focus of most wantlists, whether it was warranted or not. I can recall getting back into collecting at that time and seeing the card offered in SCD in nice condition for a few hundred bucks. Just a couple of years later, it abruptly jumped into the thousands and then into the tens of thousands. So, to me, its current valuation is just a reflection of the number of collectors who surged into the hobby enmass in the 80's. Maybe the card will gradually decline in importance - and value - as those folks slowly fade away, especially since, unlike the Wagner card, there should be plentiful numbers of the Mantle card well into the future.

[zljones]

Briansruns10 that was beautifully written makes me glad I returned to this hobby last year and sold my militaria collection for cards. And even though I will not pay the asking prices for the 52 Mantle, it is still a beautiful card.

[HaloFan]

Craig---I think you make great points. I have completed the 67 Punch out set and am about done with the 67 ( scarcer than the 64s) Stand Ups. I have the two Mantle pose variations in the Punch Outs and the 67 Mantle Stand Up. I also have a set of the 67 Discs with the Mantle. All of these are much tougher than the 52 Mantle and yet I paid less for each of them than the 52s

The Punch Outs have small pictures and the discs have never been too popular, but the 67 Stand Up is a great Mantle picture. Still scarcity and lack of knowledge likely does hold down "demand"...and they are not part of an iconic set.

I do not have the 61 Dice Mantle, but have seen it sold twice for well under what a top condition 52 would get. I only have one of the Dice cards, Kaline.

I also picked up one of the Mantle Masks, listed in SCD as a 63 Topps send away. It is also really scarce ( and may not actually be a Topps product ) . I paid a lot for it, but know of one that went unsold on ebay for .99 cents due I think to to a poor description.

One of the 52 Mantles I have is ungraded, from my younger days, and might grade a 3-4. The other, which I got to get the 2nd variation is an OC 8. Almost all of my cards and sets are ungraded for album display purposes


Al--very nice.

I'm not sure the value of the '52 Mantle will drop all that much even after the older collectors are gone. There is at least one other younger person <35 on this board who acquired the card because it took him back to when he was 12 years' old and rummaging through the new Beckett to check to see its value. There are more younger admirers of Mickey Mantle then we think.

I know a girl from Mexico who when I mentioned the card, she immediately knew who Mantle was and understood its value. Granted she learned of his iconic status via Antiques Roadshow, but this shows that his legacy is not withering anytime soon.

Craig

[zljones]

Originally Posted by HaloFan

Craig---I think you make great points. I have completed the 67 Punch out set and am about done with the 67 ( scarcer than the 64s) Stand Ups. I have the two Mantle pose variations in the Punch Outs and the 67 Mantle Stand Up. I also have a set of the 67 Discs with the Mantle. All of these are much tougher than the 52 Mantle and yet I paid less for each of them than the 52s

The Punch Outs have small pictures and the discs have never been too popular, but the 67 Stand Up is a great Mantle picture. Still scarcity and lack of knowledge likely does hold down "demand"...and they are not part of an iconic set.

I do not have the 61 Dice Mantle, but have seen it sold twice for well under what a top condition 52 would get. I only have one of the Dice cards, Kaline.

I also picked up one of the Mantle Masks, listed in SCD as a 63 Topps send away. It is also really scarce ( and may not actually be a Topps product ) . I paid a lot for it, but know of one that went unsold on ebay for .99 cents due I think to to a poor description.

One of the 52 Mantles I have is ungraded, from my younger days, and might grade a 3-4. The other, which I got to get the 2nd variation is an OC 8. Almost all of my cards and sets are ungraded for album display purposes


Al--very nice.

I'm not sure the value of the '52 Mantle will drop all that much even after the older collectors are gone. There is at least one other younger person <35 on this board who acquired the card because it took him back to when he was 12 years' old and rummaging through the new Beckett to check to see its value. There are more younger admirers of Mickey Mantle then we think.

I know a girl from Mexico who when I mentioned the card, she immediately knew who Mantle was and understood its value. Granted she learned of his iconic status via Antiques Roadshow, but this shows that his legacy is not withering anytime soon.

Craig

You are correct I am 30 years old and I have always dreamed of having a Mickey mantle card now I own three. As long as the hobby remains in general then the love for the vintage cards will last. I am now a grown man and have a real job and can finally afford cards such as Mickey Mantle cards. I remember when I scraped up $35 in 1991 at the age of 10 and peddled on my bike to a local card shop and said to the shop owners "I want a Hank Aaron rookie card" they told me I could not afford it and instead they talked me into buying a 1962 Topps Warren Sphann. I knew nothing about Warren Sphann back then but I bought it because it was from 1962 and it was old, and the men running the store were persuasive even though I did not really want it. When I took it home my mother was furious with the baseball card shop for selling me a card I didn't know squat about. She drove me down to that shop and told the owners to give me my money back, I was actually hoping they would because I had the buyers remorse and just wanted to save up for a Hank Aaron rookie card, but they refused to refund her and I got stuck with a card that eventually got stolen from me 6 years later. I am glad that I now own a 1954 topps Hank Aaron, but see I remembered those cards that I dreamed about 20 years ago and I persued them.

[Theoldprofessor]

One of the best teaching opportunities of your life stands before you right now. When my son was about 10, we began going to the National every summer. (That was so long ago that "Beckett" meant the Beckett-Eckes Price Guide.) Pretty soon he was picking up cards, asking "What's this one worth?" "What's that one worth?" Easy. "Son, it's worth exactly what you can get for it, no more no less."

The '52 Topps Mantle is worth a lot because people are willing to pay that kind of money for a really good copy. In the Thirties, the T206 Wagner was worth about $50, because that's what people who bought cards were willing to pay for it. Now some Wagners are worth millions. What changed? The card? Nah. Just its notoriety. Its value is determined by how badly people want it and how much they are willing to sacrifice to get it.

This can't be hard to understand.

[vintagecpa]

Put me in on the side of people that think the 52 Mantle is overpriced also. However, every Mantle from the 50's and 60's is also overpriced IMO, but it is what it is.

I believe there are a fair number of non-baseball card collectors that own a T206 Wagner or a 1952 Mantle, much like a rich non-art person might buy a Picaso. I would speculate that a decent percentage of 1952 Mantle owners don't own a single other 1952 Topps card, and several probably don't own another baseball card, period. When you add these groups together, you have created a demand that justifies the current price level.