Willie Mays
1952 Topps Mickey Mantle cards, other vintage gems top $10.1 million Heritage Winter auction
Heritage Auctions made national headlines last year when a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card, graded SCG 9.5, sold for an all-time record $12.6 million.
Heritage is still making headlines with copies of the iconic card. A 1952 Topps Mantle graded SGC 8 and also a part of the famous 1985 Al Rosen find, sold for $600,000 in Heritage’s Winter Sports Card Catalog Auction, which attracted more than 2,300 bidders.
A rare autographed copy of the card, graded PSA 2 with a 10 autograph, sold for $288,000.
The $10.1 million auction also featured “a Murderers’ Row” of vintage cards featuring such baseball legends as Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente as well as a vending box of first-series 1959 Topps football cards that exceeded pre-auction expectations and a record-setting Joe Namath card.
“Numerous records were once again achieved during last week's event, and it's always a thrill to see which ones become collectors' latest favorites,” said Chris Ivy, Heritage's director of sports auctions. “Some you know will top the list, like the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, especially one of the very few signed by The Mick. Others, like that vending box of football cards or the PSA Gem Mint 10 1973 Roberto Clemente that became the first to crack six figures, remind us why we do this: because it's just so much fun.”
One of only six 1952 Topps Jackie Robinson cards signed by Robinson sold for $216,000. Only one has been graded higher than the PSA 3.5 version.
Other top sellers included: a 1951 Bowman Willie Mays rookie card (PSA 8), which sold for $228,000; a 1973 Topps Roberto Clemente, one of only seven graded PSA 10, for a record $105,000; a 1971 Topps Roberto Clemente card (PSA 9) for $66,000; a 1958 Topps Mickey Mantle All Star card (PSA 9) for $63,000; a 1953 Topps Whitey Ford card (PSA 9) for a record $87,000; and a 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie card (PSA 9) for $156,000.
The 1959 Topps Football vending box was expected to sell for about $8,000, but attracted significant interest and soared to a final sales prices of $117,000.
One of only four known 1968 Topps Joe Namath cards graded PSA 10 sold for $46,800. Only PSA 10 versions of Namath’s 1965 rookie card and his 1970 card have sold for more.
That brings us to one of only four known 1968 Topps Joe Namath card graded PSA Gem Mint 10. In the past, this was a card that used to sell for a few hundred dollars in mint and near-mint condition. But collectors tussled over this prized rarity, driving Broadway Joe's final price to $46,800. Only his 1965 rookie cards, and the only PSA Gem Mint 10 Namath from the '70 set, have ever sold for more.
