Before that auction feat other examples had been discussed in this column. One of them graded NM-MT 8 by PSA and also described as perfectly centered was sold for $ 400K including premium by Goldin on July 31, 2015, lot 52.
This card is now offered as lot 80676 with a guide value of $ 500K by Heritage in Dallas in an online auction whose extended bidding phase starts on November 16.
Its 2015 sale had been an opportunity to narrate the 1952 Topps Mantle cards as follows :
The bubble gum brands recuperated the traditional business of tobacco manufacturers to edit sports cards. After war Gum Inc. from then known as Bowman is the leader in this market. His rival Topps will however win the game from its first year of card production in 1952.
The Topps cards are innovative by their enlarged size 7 x 9.5 cm, the detailed information on the back about the player's records, the careful or smiling but always powerful attitude of the champion, and beautiful colors.
Mickey Mantle played his first Major League game with the New York Yankees in April 1951. He will make his entire career in this prestigious team. Aged 20, he has promising qualities that will make him one of the best post war baseball players. His ambidextrous hits are remarkable : he holds the bat in the right hand against left-handed pitchers and switches to left hand against right-handers.
The first baseball card of Mickey Mantle is the number 253 of the 1951 Bowman series, but it is the number 311 of the 1952 Topps set which will become the most prestigious in the hobby of post war baseball cards.
311 is the lowest number in the second part of this Topps edition but it has no reason to be rarer than the higher numbers. PSA has graded more than 1000 copies. The picture is especially appealing with the dynamic behavior of the player and the sunlight on the face protected by the cap. Copies in excellent condition have brilliant colors that make it one of the masterpieces of the genre.
SOLD for $ 410K including premium
It’s the hottest card in the hobby, Mantles 1952 Topps rookie, our Nov 16-18 sale has one for any level of collectorhttps://t.co/fd8nWDaTEm pic.twitter.com/ijQvE4Jg7W
— Heritage Sports (@Heritage_Sport) November 8, 2017