Mickey Mantle card sells for all-time record: $5.2 million

Mickey Mantle just passed Mike Trout on the all-time list for the highest price ever paid for a sports card.

Rob Gough, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, plunked down a whopping $5.2 million for a 1952 Mickey Mantle #311 PSA Mint 9 in a private sale brokered through PWCC Marketplace.

It is one of only six PSA 9 Mantle cards in existence.

“I’ve dreamt of owning a 1952 Topps Mickey since I was a kid collecting cards,” Gough said in a statement through Berk Communications. “It’s the Mona Lisa of sports cards and I’ve been searching for this high-graded example, talking to industry experts, dealers, auction houses, friends, and I’m ecstatic that I’m now the proud owner of this iconic card.”

According to Jesse Craig, director of Business Development at PWCC Marketplace, “this is the nicest looking 1952 Topps Mantle PSA 9 in existence” based on the company’s research.

It was Craig that reached out to Gough about the Mantle card that was being stored in its vault, the Indianapolis Star reported. The card last sold for $2.88 million.

Gough, an actor who has appeared in “Billionaire Boys Club,” “The Forgiven” and “Mom and Dad,” is best known for buying streetwear brand DOPE in 2017, according to the Star.

The previous record for the top-selling sports card was $3,936,000 paid last summer by collector “Vegas Dave” Oancea for a 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Mike Trout Superfractor signed rookie card. That card, sold through Goldin Auctions, had broken the previous record of $3.12 million for a 1909 T206 Honus Wagner card in 2016.

Oancea had issued a warning to the hobby after selling his Trout card, predicting “the market’s going to flop in a year or two.”

So far, there is no evidence of the market slowing down.