This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/6/2016
If you're staring at this exceptional 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card and scratching your head at the grade granted by PSA, you're not alone; we've been doing the same ever since it arrived in our office. So rather than give you our usual fluffy introduction, outlining the history and significance of the issue or delving into Mantle's colorful biography, we thought it necessary to go right into a detailed description of this absolute beauty as best we could. First off, you can't help but notice that the centering is among the finest of any specimen in existence, regardless of grade. Over the past eight years, Mile High Card Company has offered 46 '52 Topps Mantle cards at auction, eight of which were graded higher than the featured card, but none were more accurately framed. In fact, we've seen some PSA 9's and at least one of the three that are graded GEM MINT PSA 10 that aren't as well centered as this one! But it's not just the virtually perfect centering that makes this flagship pasteboard stand out. The pearly-white frame extends out to four sturdy endpoints that appear perfectly perpendicular to the naked eye, again challenging specimens that are graded considerably higher and sell for tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars more. Even under 16X magnification, the top two corners clearly surpass the overall grade, while the bottom endpoints show minor evidence of enamel loss but still retain a proper right angle out to the tip. And then there's the artist's rendering of Mantle, the most identifiable post-war trademark of the baseball card collecting world. And amazingly enough, the central image of Mantle, peering to his right with his golden war club resting on his shoulder, fends off any bit of scrutiny just as skillfully. The pinpoint accurate registration of "The Commerce Comet" is supported by a robust ocean of aqua-blue pigment, flawlessly placed on the canvas with no traces of fading or shade variances, while the reverse is a problem-free presentation of red and black print on a clean gray palette. Quite frankly, if this card was in a PSA 8 holder, no one would doubt its legitimacy and would likely have been the preferred pick by advanced collectors in the days before grading services over other examples that have since graded higher. For an opportunity of this magnitude, we welcome all interested parties to fly out to our beautiful city, stop by our office and view the card in person. At this PSA grade, it's every bit as spectacular as we've described, and more. You're looking at the single greatest value in the hobby today!