A PSA 8 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth (#144) sold for a record $483,638 as Mile High Card Company closed out its final major catalog auction of 2022.
The card broke the old public sale price of $436,736 set almost exactly one year earlier. It is one of 31 8s in PSA’s Population Report with five higher.
A complete Goudey set—with the four Ruth cards graded between 2 and 3 sold for $$74,023.
The second highest price in the auction went to a 520-card T206 set that netted $366,417, while third place went to a 1952 Topps Willie Mays PSA 8 at $215,437.
Rounding out the top 5 were a 1957-58 Topps Bill Russell rookie PSA 8 ($146,574) and an SGC 7 1948-49 Leaf Satchel Paige rookie ($103,969) that broke the previous record by more than $30,000.
“It was a great event to close out the year, but we’ve got even bigger plans for 2023” said MHCC CEO and President Brian Drent.
Other key cards, in chronological order, that were sold included a 1909 Dockman & Sons Gum E92 Christy Matthewson SGC 7 that sold for $37,689, a 1911-16 Kotton Cigarettes T216 Honus Wagner Batting 2B SGC 4 which sold for $81,470 a 1909 T204 Ramly Walter Johnson (sheet cut) SGC 9 MINT that fetched $62,351, a rare 1907 Detroit Seamless Steel Tube rookie era Ty Cobb postcard SGC 2 GD at $51,380, a 1933 Goudey #106 Nap Lajoie SGC 7.5 that hammered at $70,367, a 1951 Bowman #165 Ted Williams PSA 9 that settled at a record-breaking $34,714, a 1951 Bowman #253 Mickey Mantle PSA 7 that sold for $79,364, a 1952 Bowman Mantle PSA 8 at $29,987, a 1963 Topps Pete Rose PSA 9 that went for $77,726, a 1968 Topps #177 Nolan Ryan rookie PSA 9 that soared to $77,726, a 1969-70 Topps John Havlicek rookie (PSA 9) that destroyed the previous record with the hammer dropping at $18,404 and a 1966-67 Topps #35 Bobby Orr rookie SGC 9 that reached $52,525.
Two high-profile collections were broken up and sold off as individual lots. The seventh best 1953 Bowman Color set on the PSA pop report that brought an aggregate total of $121,248, and a 1954 Topps set with a 9.098 GPA—third best on the registry that added up to a total of $480,081. The 1953 Bowman Color set was led by a PSA 8 Mantle that brought in $14,907, while the 1954 Topps Set featured a PSA 9 Jackie Robinson that soared to a record $76,438. A 1954 Topps #8 Bobby Young PSA 9 that last sold in 2017 for $1,045 found a new home for $7,745 and a 1954 Topps Howie Fox PSA 9 that last sold for $645 went for $7,040.
Other elite sets featured in the spring auction were a 1933 Goudey set that sold for $74,023 another 1954 Topps Baseball set with numerous graded cards that netted $27,136, and a 1984-85 Star Co. basketball set in original bags that hauled in $16,676.
Those tracking unopened material zeroed in on an unopened case of 2012-13 Panini Prizm Basketball with 12 unopened boxes that finally settled at $83,764.
The only known unopened 1973 Topps Football “Jumbo” wax box (24 15-cent packs) rocketed to $55,535 while a regular 1973 wax box went for $47,629.
Other items sold in the auction included a 1912-15 Walter Johnson Type I Original Photograph used for his Cracker Jack card that earned $16,693 and circa 1910 “Fan for a Fan” examples of Ty Cobb ($9,659), Christy Mathewson ($9,938), and Hal Chase ($5,483).
Complete results can be found on the company’s website.
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