This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/22/2010
So you didn't get that high-grade '52 Topps Mantle you wrote to Santa about for Christmas? Don't be sorry; none of us did! Why not, then, consider the presented 1952 Berk Ross example of "The Mick," the first and still only example graded 88 NM/MT 8 by SGC, with just one higher? Easily among Mickey's most underappreciated issues, the '52 Berk Ross card shows the talented "Commerce Comet" in the same pose as his celebrated 1951 Bowman rookie issue: a muscular, baby-faced, Yankee-capped kid peering innocently yet confidently over his left shoulder, ready to leap all over the next pitch and redefine the terms "switch-hitting slugger" and "five-tool talent." The Berk Ross issue may not appear quite as bold as the Bowman RC issue, primarily because of its streamlined manufacturing process--the cards are color-tinted photos rather than "color art reproductions," like the 1950-52 Bowman cards--but the image presented here is nevertheless accurate and extremely compelling for the issue. As the one and only example in its NM/MT 8 tier at SGC, it features a noticeably above-grade NM/MT+ perimeter around a relatively bold NM/MT image on a predominantly clean NM/MT+ obverse. The back is even cleaner than the impressive front surface and mirrors the front in its self-evident NM/MT centering preference for the top border (or the left border, when admired from the front). The overall effect is a remarkably resilient and appealing cardboard collectible of the celebrated Yankee phenom, eerily reminiscent of his famous rookie issue from the previous season but far scarcer and far more challenging in high-grade. PSA reports just 11 competitors like it with none higher, while SGC reports just a single superior, making the offered piece one of the very finest graded examples extant. So the holidays may be over, sure, but there's still time to cross this early Mantle masterpiece off your wish list!