This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/19/2016
It seems like every time you turn around these days, another 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card is being offered for sale, everything from world-class PSA 8 specimens to entry level beaters that are barely even recognizable as a baseball card. "Mantle-mania" has become so intense that in most cases, a new record price at any given grade level is achieved within mere minutes of the auction opening for bidding. Then again, it is the flagship post-war card of the hobby, and even with the recent explosion in prices, the demand to add this icon to any collection has never been higher. It also happens to be the one true example that can vary wildly in price at any given grade level, usually a result of how well or how off the centering is. Well, if a mid-grade 1952 Topps Mantle is on your radar and you've been searching for just the right one, we think you might have just found it right here! Graded SGC 70 EX+ 5.5, the first thing you can't help but notice, as we've all been conditioned to immediately turn our attention to, is that the centering is fantastic! There's an extremely subtle clockwise turn of maybe a degree or two, but the framing is otherwise virtually dead-on, both left to right as well as side to side. We've all seen PSA 7s and even PSA 8s, cards that have pushed the half million dollar mark, that weren't as proficiently framed as this one. The central image is also advanced for the grade, with Mantle's unforgettable "golden bat on shoulder" portrait delivered with perfect clarity and surrounded by a deep blue-aqua field that shows no more than a few specks here and there. The endpoints are fairly judged, consistent from corner to corner with each placed within the EX to EX/MT grading tiers. The reverse also presents above grade with deep red and black print cleanly placed on a smooth cardboard canvas with a faint print line right below the red bio block, hardly any cause for concern. The 1952 Topps Mantle has become so coveted within the card collecting community that even a half-point increase in grade can mean tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in price. We strongly feel that at this grade level, it's very unlikely you can find a more worthy specimen for your collection. If there was ever a card deserving of paying a record price, this is it!