1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 SGC Mint 9....

Click the image to load the highest resolution version.

Sold on Aug 19, 2023 for:

Sign-in or Join (free & quick)

Get one of these:

Share this lot

Track Item Printable Auction Results

Sell One of These

Description

Auction Info

Guides & Info

Description

A veritable twin of our $12.6M record-breaker from the same famous "Rosen Find!"

1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 SGC Mint 9. We would all like to believe that a Major League strike zone is a solid-edged thing, invisible but nonetheless immutable, save for the variation in statures between the likes of Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge. But, of course, everybody knows that's not actually true, and that every pitcher and every hitter comes to recognize the various home plate umpires by the thin margins of difference between their rulings. It's a practice as old as the sport itself, and one that is certain to endure until the purists are finally overrun by those intent upon placing the task of calling balls and strikes into the bloodless hands of technology.

But all the dirt-kicking, chest-bumping tantrums of furious managers could never change the fact that this sliver of disparity in the perception of different people is inherent to the species. We see it in every facet of life that calls upon a unique human brain to make a judgment. It is a reality to be accepted, not a call to arms.

So let there be no false inference that our own opinions about the exceptional trading card on offer here are meant to supersede those of the SGC employees who sealed it within a Mint 9 slab, nor of your own, dear reader. We intend only to make our case as honestly and plainly as possible, and to leave the final determination to those elite-level trading card collectors who will slug it out in the late hours of Platinum Night.

Anybody with the will and the means to chase this spectacular piece of Americana will no doubt be aware that Heritage Auctions made global headlines a year ago when the SGC Mint+ 9.5 example of this card presented in our August 2022 Platinum Night auction became the most expensive article of sports memorabilia ever sold at $12.6 million. Its stunning state of preservation was the result of a once-in-a-lifetime "find" of 1952 Topps Series Three deadstock in the home of a former delivery driver, brought to market by Al Rosen, an early hobby icon best remembered by his self-affixed nickname, "Mr. Mint." This SGC Mint 9 specimen derives from that same legendary and virginal trove.

In the interest of brevity, we won't recap the tale of that 1985 "find," but that story is laid out in the listing for the aforementioned record-setting card, and we would direct every party interested in this one to examine its eight-figure sibling in our Permanent Auction Archives. Study that example. Put it side-by-side on your computer monitor with this one, and consider.

We'll make our bold claim here--this card compares favorably to any 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle that exists on the planet, inclusive of that world record SGC 9.5 and the three Gem Mint 10 specimens in the PSA population (the only four examples on the planet to have officially graded higher).

This statement will undoubtedly bring controversy, but it is our hope that our lengthy preamble on the topic will have served its intended purpose of explaining just how subjective such judgments become when comparing virtual perfection to virtual perfection. Run down a checklist of requirements for a top-rated card and every box is ticked: color, gloss, registration, corners, surfaces, centering. At this airless altitude a step from the peak of not just the global population of all 1952 Topps Mantle cards, but truly all post-war trading cards extant, the view is quite literally the best that money can buy. Graded SGC Mint 9.