A pinstriped New York Yankees jersey worn by Mickey Mantle in the first half of his 1956 Triple Crown season has sold for $649,250, the second highest priced Mantle jersey ever sold at auction.
The jersey, photomatched to several moments during the season and later signed by Mantle, drew 24 bids in Mile High Card Company’s first major sale of 2020. The selling price trails only a jersey donned by Mantle when he set the career World Series home run record in 1964 which sold for $1.32 million in August of 2018.
The jersey was the top-selling item in the auction, which brought in over $3 million. In all, four lots sold for over $200,000, including a 1952 Topps Mantle graded PSA 8 that dropped the hammer with a winning bid of $373,625. A Ty Cobb game bat from his 1922 season PSA/DNA GU 10 brought in $202,751 while a Babe Ruth game bat dating to 1929-30 reached $200,844.
The auction results built on the company’s last catalog sale, which included the $1.35 million sale of a T206 Wagner and other iconic cards.
“We’ve picked up right where ‘The Event’ left off and opened the 2020 year with the finest auction that we’ve ever had the privilege to offer,” stated MHCC President and CEO Brian Drent on Friday morning. “A lot of previous record prices fell last night and we’re pushing hard for the trend to continue.”
The 1956 jersey and ’52 Topps card weren’t the only major Mantle items in the sale. An autographed Adirondack bat netted $82,506.
Another six-figure item was a 1921 Exhibit card signed by Ruth with PSA/DNA 10 signature, dubbed “the finest autographed Ruth card known in the hobby,” rocketed to $137,634.
There were hundreds of sets, lots, single cards and unopened boxes offered in the auction, topped by the ninth best T206 set on PSA’s Set Registry. Bids were taken on individual cards and the entire set with the latter winning out in the end for a price of $175,100. Likewise, the third best PSA-rated 1971 Topps Greatest Moments set was offered both ways, but this time the individual bids won out. The grand total of all reached $43,518.
1910 Imperial Tobacco C55 and C56 collections were also broken up and sold, the C55 set bringing in a total of $59,664 and the C56 set earning $79,553.
Other key single cards in the auction included
- 1887 N690-1 Kalamazoo Bats Athletic Club Cabinet SGC AUTHENTIC $7,163
- 1895 Mayo’s Cut Plug N300 Cap Anson SGC 6 $10,233
- 1933 DeLong #21 Jimmy Foxx PSA 8 $11,641
- 1933 Goudey #29 Jimmy Foxx SGC 8.5 $26,799
- 1934 Goudey Premium R309-1 Babe Ruth SGC 7 $13,350
- 1955 Topps #123 Sandy Koufax PSA 8 $11,641
- 1971 Topps #156 Terry Bradshaw PSA 9 $14,000
- 2003 Topps Chrome Xfractor #111 LeBron James PSA 10 $33,206 (record price)
Other record prices included:
- 1950 Bowman #194 Billy Cox PSA 10 $7,998,1959
- 1959 Topps #10 Mickey Mantle PSA 8.5 NM-MT+ $10,888
- 1970 Topps #189 Thurman Munson PSA 10 $33,206
- 1970 Topps #630 Ernie Banks PSA 10 $15,864
- 1971 Topps Greatest Moments #47 Reggie Jackson PSA 8 $6,007
- 1967 Topps #161 Dick Williams PSA 10 $3,957
- 1965 Topps Football #116 Winston Hill PSA 9 $9,500
- 1965 Topps #174 Dick Westmoreland PSA 9 $8,636
- 1940 Gum Inc. #1 Superman PSA 7 NM $13,673
The auction also included dozens of rare photos, unopened material, PSA Set Registry collections and other pieces. Among the highlights: a 1925 Lou Gehrig Rookie Year Type I photo by Charles Conlon, which soared to $50,307; a 1915 Joe Jackson Type I photo by Paul Thompson which netted $16,599, a 1972 Topps football Series 2 wax box ( $27,317), a 1970 Topps Football Series 1 Wax Box ($18,049), a 2017 Panini Football National Treasures Football four box hobby case ($18,926), a 1933 R136 National Chicle Sky Birds unopened box with 91 packs that hauled in $36,202, and a 1959 Fleer Three Stooges PSA graded set with an 8.594 GPA that saw heavy competition before closing at $29,118.
Complete results can be found on the company’s website.
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