1951 Topps Mickey Mantle Type 1 photo for '52 Topps- the story

[glynparson]

how else can one individual look at 95% of 52 million photos. His words not mine.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by glynparson

how else can one individual look at 95% of 52 million photos. His words not mine.

Maybe when he said "he" he meant himself and his 70+ workers that help him?

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by glynparson

how else can one individual look at 95% of 52 million photos. His words not mine.

He also specifically mentioned pulling the Mantle file at every location he went to (which I'm sure he also did with other HOF players). Also remember that the 52 million or whatever total he's up to now (I'm sure it's increased since he wrote that) includes not just sports images, but also planes, trains, architecture, political, celebrity, social event, and every other kind of image you can think of. I think it would be a safe assumption that he's seen most if not all of the baseball images (as that's his personal area of interest, from what I've gathered) and probably most of the sports images, but I doubt he took the time to peruse the "butter queen" and "mule day parade" folders that would be included in those millions of images. It would make sense to me that he would pull and personally inspect the files most likely to contain primo shots, and trust his staff to dig through the others and bring anything of interest to his attention without him having to touch every single photograph.

[glynparson]

I think It is not possible to look at that many images and know whats there. It sounds like pure hyperbole to me. I dont think you realize how much 52 million images is. Also isnt this the same guy said he owned 2 wagners when Dave already bought the 5mc from him and Jeff called him out? or is that another photo guy? Sounds like the typical hobby hype to me. Cool image and I agree it has extreme value I just dont think it needs the puffery.

[Splinte1941]

Originally Posted by glynparson

I think It is not possible to look at that many images and know whats there. It sounds like pure hyperbole to me. I dont think you realize how much 52 million images is. Also isnt this the same guy said he owned 2 wagners when Dave already bought the 5mc from him and Jeff called him out? or is that another photo guy? Sounds like the typical hobby hype to me. Cool image and I agree it has extreme value I just dont think it needs the puffery.

Let's remember one thing here. This is 99% business and 1% hobby. From auction houses shilling their asses off to other people creating a market for items such as this Mantle photo, it's all about the money, and how to best extract the money from the hands and pockets of willing collectors.

I think there are very few of us who will actually take our collections to the grave or pass them on to someone else. IMO, the majority of us will at some point look to cash in on the "investment" and use those assets for other more important life events or circumstances that will happen to us all eventually. And this after years of enjoying the chase of collecting.

Do I think more than one Type 1 of this photo exists? Of course, but none of us can prove it, so the market and hype gets created and it leads inevitably to discussions like this. Something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, but only to that specific person.

[Leon]

All of this being said if the timing was a bit more right for me I would have bid more than the winning bid. Not sure how high the winner was going to go but I think the photo is that nice and that significant. If one or others came out, I wouldn't have cared. Whomever won this got a good deal imo.....hype or no hype (and hell yes, hype is part of the hobby, we as collectors just need to understand what is important to us and try not to get caught up in it)

[Frozen in Time]

Originally Posted by Splinte1941

Let's remember one thing here. This is 99% business and 1% hobby. From auction houses shilling their asses off to other people creating a market for items such as this Mantle photo, it's all about the money, and how to best extract the money from the hands and pockets of willing collectors.

I think there are very few of us who will actually take our collections to the grave or pass them on to someone else. IMO, the majority of us will at some point look to cash in on the "investment" and use those assets for other more important life events or circumstances that will happen to us all eventually. And this after years of enjoying the chase of collecting.

Do I think more than one Type 1 of this photo exists? Of course, but none of us can prove it, so the market and hype gets created and it leads inevitably to discussions like this. Something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, but only to that specific person.

Originally Posted by Leon

All of this being said if the timing was a bit more right for me I would have bid more than the winning bid. Not sure how high the winner was going to go but I think the photo is that nice and that significant. If one or others came out, I wouldn't have cared. Whomever won this got a good deal imo.....hype or no hype (and hell yes, hype is part of the hobby, we as collectors just need to understand what is important to us and try not to get caught up in it)

I actually agree with both Jake and Leon on this. Must admit that I am keeping my fingers crossed that other Type 1's will eventually surface.