Those two super rare 1950s Mascot Dog Food cards featuring a pair of Yankee icons sold for more than $28,000 combined Sunday night. A Mickey Mantle card brought $23,600 while a Yogi Berra sold for $4,720. Both had been graded 1.5 by Beckett Grading Services.
The cards were originally found inside a family photo album last year at an Adamstown, PA flea market. The buyer sold them to a local antique dealer who flipped them again through an online auction conducted by Wheatland Auction Services. The cards hadn’t been graded and authenticated before being offered in the auction and little was known about them. The only other card ever found from the 1950s promotion by the New Jersey-based maker of pet food was a Robin Roberts, although 11 cards were on a checklist.
Whether the Mascot promotion never actually got off the ground because of licensing issues or some other reason isn’t known. It’s believed the cards were issued sometime between 1953 and 1955.
Fifty-one bids were made on the Mantle, which was in relatively good condition other than a pin hole at the top. The Berra card attracted 34 bids.