Babe,Willie Generating Six-Figure Interest in High-End Card Auction

A 1916 M101-5 Babe Ruth rookie card has set a record for the grade in Goldin Auctions’ ‘Great American Trading Card’ catalog.  The SGC 70 (EX+) example is currently at $240,000 ($288,000 with the buyer’s premium).  The last SGC 70 to sell publicly went for $98,175 in 2015.  The last sale, in February 2015, was at $80,662.  The highest recorded price for an M101-5 Ruth is $717,00 for a PSA 7.

More than 1,000 bids have already been placed on the 100 lots up for bid in the auction, with bidding set to continue through Saturday.

The second annual event offers 100 lots of rare high-grade trading cards. In the inaugural Great American Trading Card Auction last fall, more than 20 new record prices were established including the T206 Jumbo Wagner selling for $3.12 and a modern-day basketball record sale price of $312,000 for a 2003-04 Upper Deck LeBron James 1/1 “Ultimate Logos” rated PSA 9.

The current auction includes five Ruth cards in all, along with 12 high-grade Mickey Mantle cards, five featuring Willie Mays, four of Michael Jordan and numerous other well-known rookie cards across all four major sports.

A 1952 Topps Mays graded PSA 9 sits at $200,000.  One of nine at that level, it carries a pre-sale estimate of $375,000.  The last two sales at public auction have been $382,400 and $310,070.

A 1954 Topps Ernie Banks PSA 9 sits at $49,000 heading into the final 48 hours of bidding while a 1986-87 Fleer basketball unopened box has soared to $45,000, continuing the red-hot market for boxes likely containing multiple copies of Michael Jordan’s rookie card. 

A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle graded SGC 80 is at $40,000 while a 1951 Bowman Mays rookie card graded 9 by PSA is at $42,000.

You can follow the auction here.

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About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for over 40 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected].