Mantle rookie smashes record in Memory Lane Fall Classic Auction

A little over four years ago, Memory Lane generated headlines with the sale of a PSA 9 (Mint) Mickey Mantle rookie card. In the company’s recent Fall Classic Auction, that record-setting $220,150 sale was blown away when the same 1951 Bowman gem soared to $588,000.

The iconic card topped bidding in Memory Lane’s Fall Classic Auction, which tallied over $3.5 million.

The second highest priced card in the sale was for a 1953 Topps Willie Mays graded PSA 9. One of just two at that level, the second-year Topps issue sold for $132,000.

Bidders also had the rare opportunity to chase a 1922 Babe Ruth side-written Louisville Slugger game-used bat. The bat, sent by Ruth to Kentucky during spring training in 1923 as a model for the company to add more lumber to the Yankee legend’s arsenal, is graded GU 10 by PSA/DNA. When the dust settled, the bat sold for $408,000.

The only PSA 10 example of the 1910 E98 Honus Wagner card, the one that originated with the famous Black Swamp Find, led a parade of pre-war cards in the auction, selling for $99,600. Another Black Swamp card, a PSA 9 Ty Cobb (red background) sold for $26,400.

Several high-grade T206s drew a crowd of interested collectors including:

• Ty Cobb (green portrait) PSA 7 – $67,200

• Ty Cobb (bat on shoulder) PSA 8 – $66,000

• Walter Johnson (portrait) PSA 8 – $56,400

• Ty Cobb (red portrait) PSA 7 – $35,060

• Christy Mathewson (portrait) PSA 8 – $49,200

• Mordecai Brown (portrait) PSA 8 – $28,159

• Johnny Evers (with bat/Cubs on shirt) PSA 8 – $20,060

• Vic Willis (with bat/St. Louis) PSA 8 – $13,399

One of the two PSA 10 1956 Topps Luis Aparicio rookie cards sold for $53,380 while a PSA 10 ’56 Sandy Koufax brought $45,860.

A 1967 Topps Roberto Clemente, also graded PSA 10, sold for $28,176.

Collectors of vintage unopened material zeroed in on a 1961-62 Fleer unopened box of 24 packs. Likely teeming with some of the top basketball rookie cards of all-time, the box rocketed to $93,600. A 1970 Topps Super baseball box sold for $7,575.

The auction also included several high-grade Type 1 photographs. Images of Joe Jackson, Walter Johnson, Rogers Hornsby, Joe DiMaggio and Hank Aaron sold for over $5,000 each.

Prices include a 20 percent buyer’s premium.

Memory Lane is accepting consignments for its next major catalog auction, set to open in December. For more information, visit the company’s website or call 877-606-LANE (5263).