The 1952 Topps is the first modern series of baseball cards, with a striking iconography on front side and relevant information on the back of the card. The end of this series, from the number 311 showing Mantle, is rare due to its late printing date that did dot match the sporting season. The total population validated by PSA was 1225 units in December 2015.
Born in the same year as James Dean, Mickey Mantle joined the team of the New York Yankees in the previous year and appeared as the successor to Joe DiMaggio who had just retired. His career will meet such promises.
Collectors are struggling to find the best possible card. In a previous post, I had retrieved that three Topps 1952-311 had been graded Gem Mint 10 by PSA. To my knowledge, the last offering of one of them at auction happened in June 2001. The result recorded by Superior Sports Auction, $ 275K, was astonishing in its time.
Interest is growing and prices are soaring, particularly for cards graded Near Mint - Mint 8 by PSA. I had discussed two of them in July 2015, sold for $ 380K including premium by Heritage and $ 400K including premium by Goldin. Such a rating is already outdated. Another 1952-311 NM-MT 8 was sold for $ 486K by PWCC Auctions on eBay in November 2015, soon exceeded by another unit that sold for $ 525K including premium at Heritage on December 10.
The grading by PSA is not sufficient to compare these examples in terms of visual effect and centering. Heritage announced that the 1952-311 NM-MT 8 for sale by them in New York on February 20 is the best that they ever encountered in its grade. It is estimated $ 400K, lot 80015.
SOLD for $ 500K including premium
A card like this set one world record, will this one set another? https://t.co/JwrH4bEL1o pic.twitter.com/lYlboUwJGx
— Heritage Auctions (@HeritageAuction) February 13, 2016