This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/19/2024
Graded PSA VG 3. Offered is a 1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle Rookie Card. This fresh-to-the-hobby example was consigned by the same man who pulled the card from a brand new pack of 1952 Topps cards he bought for 5¢ when he was 7 years old in 1952! (Many of his other personal baseball cards are also offered in this auction.)
The '52 Mantle is one of the most sought-after and iconic cards in the collecting world, with that singularly confident glare on Mickey's young face, his chosen ash weapon slung over his shoulder like a young Paul Bunyan's axe, and the signature teal background framing the scene. This offered example, though exhibiting obvious grade-relevant issues, has tremendous eye-appeal and blazing color tones. Its nice big borders create a stunning frame for a card at this or any PSA level. It would be a welcome and far beyond respectable centerpiece to any advanced collector's 1952 Topps Set.
The accompanying letter from our consignor retells the story of getting the card and how it survived for more than 70 years:
I was 7 years old in 1952, and on the way home from Sunset Elementary School, I would sometimes stop at a small ice cream shop where they sold baseball cards. I would buy some and take them home and play with them for many happy years. Time passed, and I became a police officer in 1968. Some years later, my father passed away, and I purchased my childhood home from my mother. One day, probably in the 1990's, I was having lunch with a fellow older officer, and he mentioned that baseball cards had risen in value. I went home, and sure enough, my cards were still safely stored where my mother had put them in our old cellar in the house my father built in 1948. I moved them to a more secure place and discovered that amongst the several hundred cards was this 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. Years have passed, and now this and many other of my cards are being sold--after 72 years, I am now willing to say goodbye to "The Mick" and the other greats--I hope the winners cherishes these cards. And may God bless my mother for saving them!