News
Does Mantle have a (Mickey) Mouse card?
Mickey Mantle’s 1952 Topps card is on the short list of all-time hobby holy grails. As regular readers know, it has sold for north of $1 million on more than one occasion, with a well-publicized PSA 9 specimen hitting nearly $3 million. And a SGC 9.5 version holds the all-time sports card record at $12.6 million.
On eBay in June, a relatively clean example of the card sold for “only” $20,600. What held it up? Well, it had one important condition issue: a small piece missing from the lower-left corner.
We can speculate for you, based on the listing photograph, what happened to the card. From our view, it appears a small rodent may have nibbled off the corner.
The seller’s listing doesn’t identify it as rodent damage, saying only that the card has a “small chewed corner.” Otherwise, his description plays up the positive aspects of its condition: “No creases, clean, well-centered, good eye appeal, and all text completely readable.”
If it was indeed a mouse that bit into this ’52 Mantle, as we suspect, it was an expensive taste. It made the difference between a five-figure price and perhaps a six- or seven-figure price. (The mouse couldn’t have chewed on a Gordon Goldsberry card instead? Goldsberry was a White Sox and Browns outfielder who hit .241 in four seasons but made it onto Topps’ checklist in 1952, which turned out to be his final season. Goldsberry later became a scout and is the man known for signing Robin Yount to the Brewers. But we digress ... .).
Our speculation raises multiple questions: If this ungraded card were to be submitted to a grading service, would they be able to pinpoint the source of the chewing, identifying it as a mouse (or otherwise)? And if the rest of this card looks more like a 5 or 6 grade, how many points would get nicked off for a rodent-chewed corner?
Guidance from PSA, BGS, SGC, CCG and other grading services would be welcome.
