Mickey Mantle cards highlight Steiner Auctions’ Spring Fever Auction

The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card has received a lot of Hobby press recently, and that continues in the Spring Fever Auction presented by Steiner Auctions.

The 1952 Topps Mantle card is graded PSA NM 7 with a MC qualifier. According to the auction lot description, the card is “one of only four at this elite grade with a qualifier. Only a handful of unqualified examples have ever graded higher with PSA to date. The few examples of the card in such an unspoiled condition are unquestionably scarce and sell for incredible amounts of money at auction.”

Also according to the auction lot description, the 1952 Mantle card has appreciated in value more than any other card in the Hobby. In 2006 the card in a PSA 7 grade sold for $28,500. Nine years later, in 2015, a PSA 7 grade sold for $227,050, nearly a 700 percent increase.

In the past 24 months a PSA 8 grade was sold for $660,000 and a PSA 8.5 graded example sold for $1,135,250. In addition, just last month a PSA 9 grade was sold privately for over $3 million.

There are nine other graded Mantle cards in the auction from various years. Of these, a 1951 Bowman Mantle rookie card #253 graded NM/M PSA 8 with a (OC) qualifier leads the way. Other Mantle graded cards include: 1969 Topps #500 Mantle white letters PSA 9 (OC), 1968 Topps #280 Mantle PSA 8, 1965 Topps #350 Mantle PSA 8, 1966 Topps #50 Mantle (PSA 8), 1966 O-Pee-Chee #50 Mantle SGC 8, 1960 Topps #350 Mantle SGC 8, 1959 Bazooka Mantle hand-cut (PSA/DNA authenticated), and 1958 Topps #150 Mantle PSA 9 (OC).

Another New York Yankees player is also destined to draw a lot of interest in the auction, namely Lou Gehrig. The top Gehrig item is a 1924 Hartford Minor League player transfer contract with a JSA Letter of Authenticity. The contract is dated April 24, 1924, and includes details and notes that are in the handwriting of Baseball Hall of Fame member Ed Barrow. Barrow also fulfilled the signature obligation for Yankees President Jacob Ruppert.

The contract is not signed by Gehrig, which could indicate this copy was Gehrig’s personal copy of the agreement.

Rarely ever available, a Lou Gehrig signed check in the auction will get the attention of collectors. According to the auction lot description, it is nearly impossible to find New York Yankees payroll checks signed in his full name “Louis” Gehrig on the reverse in black fountain ink. The Gehrig signature has a clean eye appeal. It has been endorsed on the front by Yankees then owner Jacob Ruppert in bold fountain pen ink. The check is for the sum of $638.32 and was issued on July 31, 1925.