Cards

High-grade 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card, Babe Ruth gems headline Goldin Vintage auction

It wouldn’t be a Vintage Elite auction without the holy grail. Goldin’s June event features a high-grade example of the iconic 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card.
By SCD Staff
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JUN 1, 2026

Goldin opened its June Vintage Elite Auction on May 28, and it is fittingly headlined by the iconic card now known as the hobby’s holy grail.

A 1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle card graded PSA NM-MT 8 ranks among the top five to 10 percent of all known PSA 8 examples, according to Goldin.

Goldin

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PSA has issued only 35 PSA 8 grades for the rare card. A SGC 9.5 example set a sports card record in 2022, selling for $12.6 million. PSA 8 prices have ranged from $1.1 to $1.5 million.

Two other coveted Mantle cards also headline the auction—a 1951 Bowman #253 Mantle Rookie graded PSA 8, with only 10 copies graded higher; and a 1957 Topps #95 Mantle graded PSA MINT 9.

The auction, which runs through June 20, also features just one of nine examples of a 1933 Goudey #144 Babe Ruth-signed card in any grade, with the offered copy among the finest known autographed examples, according to Goldin.

Two other Ruth cards also headline the auction—a 1917 Boston Store H801-8 #147 Ruth, one of just 11 total documented examples across both PSA and SGC, and a 1915 Boston Red Sox Team Photo Postcard featuring Ruth's first-ever appearance on any cardboard collectible.

Other iconic vintage cards in the auction include:

• A 1955 Topps #164 Roberto Clemente Rookie (PSA NM-MT+ 8.5), one of just two known copies with the 8.5 grade with only 12 graded higher.

• 1910 E104-2 Nadja Caramel Honus Wagner (SGC VG-EX 4), one of just eight documented examples in any grade across both PSA and SGC.

• 1914 E145 Cracker Jack #57 Walter Johnson (SGC NM 7). 

• 1971 O-Pee-Chee #160 Tom Seaver (PSA GEM MINT 10), the finest known example.

SCD StaffAuthor