The 1952 Topps Mantle is Overpriced and Over-hyped

[steve B]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

Maybe true now, as it was true then - depending on your perspective. How many desirable hobby items, money aside - are truly scarce to the point where you can't find one even if you have the cash to pony up? I'm not a prewar guy per se, but I know that most items in this realm that people on this board are going to be concerned about are prewar items. So there is that.

But that aside, there are plenty of postwar vintage cards that aren't truly rare or scarce by the factual definition of those words that still sell for big $ and have for decades now. I'm guessing Mike Wheat eventually got comfortable with that notion based on what I know of him in the hobby.

Reminds me of the article that came out I'm guessing at some point close to this one of the guy who burned his '52 Mantle in a trash bin with a bunch of other cards in protest over the MLB strike of 1981. I'm guessing if that guy lived for much longer after he did that, he lived to regret it.

A dealer being comfortable with a card and its hype and overpricing shouldn't be a surprise, that's just how things are.

But he's not wrong, aside from the hype, that double print really doesn't have much going for it.