The mint 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle generated most of the headlines but there were plenty of other big ticket vintage cards sold in Heritage Auctions’ two-day Spring Trading Card catalog. The two-day auction that kicked off with the much-publicized ‘52 Mantle owned by Evan Mathis reaching $2.88 million wrapped up late Friday night.
Two other ’52 Mantle cards also drew a crowd of interested bidders with a PSA 7 netting $120,000 and an SGC 60 hitting $50,400, the highest price for that grade in two years.
A PSA 9 1951 Bowman Mantle rookie, the first one offered at auction in nearly five years, soared to $750,000—more than a half million dollars more than the last sale back in 2013.
The third highest selling card in the auction was a 1916 M101-5 Sporting News Babe Ruth rookie card graded PSA 7 which realized $384,000. A PSA 8 Joe Jackson from the same M101-5 issue netted $72,140.
The only PSA 10 copy of the 1948-49 Leaf Warren Spahn took its place among the six cards that sold for six or seven-figure prices when it closed at a whopping $192,000. A PSA 7 example of the rare Satchel Paige card from the same set hit $84,000 while a Jackie Robinson rookie card that was also issued in Leaf’s lone major bubble gum card set hit $43,260.
Sometimes it doesn’t take long for an underappreciated card to take off. An SGC 50 example of the sizzling hot 1925 Exhibit Lou Gehrig rookie rocketed to $78,000 in the Heritage sale. In October 2014, a card in the same grade sold at auction for one-tenth of that amount.
Numerous vintage unopened material was offered in the catalog, led by a still-unopened case of 1975 Topps cello boxes which realized $102,000 and a 1969 Topps baseball 1st series wax box which ended at $40,800.
Other sales included:
- 1954 Topps Hank Aaron rookie card PSA 8.5 ($72,000)
- 1928 Dockman Star Player Candy set of 72, all SGC graded ($48,000)
- 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle PSA 5.5 ($48,000)
- 1917-1920 Felix Mendelsohn Babe Ruth SGC 40 ($40,820)
- 1957 Bazooka Mickey Mantle SGC 88 ($36,000)
In all, the auction registered total sales of $9.83 million across 1,900 lots. Prices include the 20% buyer’s premium. Complete results can be found here.
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