1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Sells for $12.6 Million!
By Dan Murphy
For more than 50 years, the most valuable baseball card has always been the 1910 Honus Wagner. The baseball cards back then came in a pack of cigarettes, and recently that card sold for $7.25 Million.
Now there is a new king baseball card, and it comes in the form of a mint, 1952 Mickey Mantle Topps baseball card, which sold for a whopping $12.6 Million.
The sale was completed by Heritage Auctions on Aug. 27. “This card is arguably the finest-condition example of the most iconic post-war card in the world,” said Chris Ivy, Heritage’s director of sports auctions.
As with most auctions today, the owner remains anonymous, but Heritage Auctions didn’t say that the owner is “a baseball fan from Rye, New York”.
Baseball cards are now graded on their quality by ratings companies, the most popular is PSA Authenticaton and Grading service. The 52′ Mantle that just sold was rated a 9.5, which is about as close to perfection you can get, and that comes from a baseball card that is 70 years old. Last year, another 52′ Mantle sold for $5.2 Million but was graded PSA 9.
This is the first time that any baseball card, or any piece of sports memorabilia, has surpassed the $10 Million mark. “An eight-figure auction result in the sports market was the stuff of fantasy just a decade ago. We always knew this card would shatter records and expectations. But that doesn’t make it any less of a thrill to be part of an auction during which a single item breaks the eight-figure threshold for the first time,” said Ivy.
Earlier this year, a soccer jersey from Diego Maradonna from the World Cup sold for $9.28 Million.
The 1952 Topps Mantle has always been one of the most expensive baseball cards, because it is the first card in Mantle’s career, even though he played his first full year in 1952. But as an avid card collector in the late 1970’s, my favorite card was the 1956 Mantle. But congrats to the new owner of the 52′ Mantle, from Westchester and Rye.
And maybe its time for all of us to clean out our attics, or garages, and look for some hidden gold.
