Mickey Mantle cards continue to soar, top Memory Lane’s $10.4M fall auction

Though the 1952 Mickey Mantle card is still one of the most iconic and valuable cards in the hobby, Mantle’s other cards from the 1950s and ‘60s continue to soar in value.

That was evident in Memory Lane’s 1,750-lot Fall Rarities Auction, which closed Sunday and generated $10.4 million in sales.

The top card was a 1953 Bowman Color Mickey Mantle card (PSA 9), which sold for a record $473,793. With only one grade 10 in existence and grade 9s rare, the card attracted 65 bids and obliterated the previous grade-9 record of $77,500.

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The auction featured several high-grade Mantle cards, including seven of the nine highest-selling cards.

A 1955 Bowman Mantle, graded PSA 9, was the third highest selling card in the auction at $375,483, beating the previous record set just a few months ago by more than $160,000. The card was famously pulled from an unopened cello pack at the 2018 National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago.

While a 1951 Mantle continued to hold strong, with a PSA 8 selling for $372,608, a 1962 Topps Mantle, graded PSA 9, sold for $314,578, nearly doubling the previous record set just two months ago. A 1957 Topps Mantle sold for $209,793 — more than twice the previous record and seven times the price of another copy that sold less than two and a half years ago. A 1956 Topps Mantle, another PSA 9, also reached six figures, selling for $149,793.

The second highest price in the auction belonged to a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth — a card Memory Lane has a strong history with. A Goudey Ruth #53, graded PSA 9, sold for a record $4.2 million in the Thomas Newman Auction. The fall auction featured an 8.5 example, the highest grade in SGC’s population, which sold for $456,000. A signed 1933 Goudey Ruth, with an autograph grade of 8, netted $135,483.

Another popular piece was a PSA 7 1921 E121 Ruth, the highest graded example on any population report, which sold for $243,483.

Other high-grade vintage cards also attracted plenty of interest, including a 1968 Nolan Ryan rookie card that soared to $125,583 while a 1973 Topps Ryan — one of six graded PSA 10 — sold for an astounding $70,960, more than three times the normal price. The ’73 Ryan and a 1966 Topps Sandy Koufax (PSA 9), which sold for $27,457, were further proof that it is not just rookie cards that are attracting strong prices.

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Further evidence is a 1952 Topps card of Tommy Brown, who became the youngest position player to appear in a major league game during World War II. A PSA 10 generated a lot of buzz and closed with a record price of $64,814.

Other cards that drew impressive prices were:

• A 1963 Topps Pete Rose rookie card, graded PSA 9, at $125,793.

• A T205 Cy Young, graded PSA 7, for $110,084, a record price for any T205 at the PSA 7 level.

• A 1915 Cracker Jack Branch Rickey, graded PSA 5, for $16,886.

• A newly discovered, one-of-a-kind Lenox back T206 Hughie Jennings, which closed at $9,662.

• A 1999 Upper Deck SP Sign of the Times Gold Kobe Bryant autograph for $57,441.

• A 1971-72 Topps Spencer Haywood rookie (PSA 10) for an eye-popping $36,794.

• A 1970-71 Topps Jo Jo White rookie card (PSA 10) $22,754.

• A 1961-62 Fleer Lenny Wilkens rookie card (PSA 10) for $25,648.

• A 1961 Topps Jim Brown, graded PSA 9, for $20,432.

• A PSA 10 1955 Topps All-American of Heisman Trophy winner Bruce Smith for $8,871.

• A copy of Mantle’s 1953 Yankees contract for $86,235.

• Signed Yellow Hall of Fame plaques from Jackie Robinson ($5,918) and Roy Campanella ($8,666).

• A 1947 photo of Jackie Robinson for $46,111.

• A 1917 Joe Jackson photo dating to that year’s World Series for $36,090.

Complete auction results can be found here.

Memory Lane is accepting consignments for its next auction, scheduled to open late this year.