A PSA 7 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle sold on eBay this week via PWCC Auctions for $161,100. High-grade ’52 Mantle cards are 
now experiencing some wild price swings. Another PSA 7 sold for $227,050 in November via Heritage Auctions. Prior to those two sales, the last one had brought $46,250 in May of 2014—less than two years ago.
The last three public sales of a PSA 6? $101,575 in March, $133,235 in November and $52,580 last May. It’s hard to know what the actual value of the card in mid-to-high grade really is right now but demand for all Mantle cards remains at an all-time high.
The Mick isn’t alone, though. A new record price for the 1953 Topps Willie Mays in a PSA 8 holder was established this week in PWCC’s auction. You can see that one here.
Other big ticket cards on the block now include a 1965 Topps Joe Namath rookie card (PSA 8), which soared to $35,301 in the first couple of days of bidding and a PSA 9 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan rookie, which was scheduled to end Wednesday night.
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The announcement of those seven rare Ty Cobb cards that spent decades in an old paper bag before being found by family members caused quite a stir last week. We still don’t know the selling price of the two cards that sold quickly.
David Seideman discussed that and the contrast with the Black Swamp Find of a few years ago in this story for Forbes.com.
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Goldin Auctions’ Babe Ruth memorabilia auction closed over the weekend with a 1920s bat bringing the biggest price– $149,400 including the buyer’s premium.
A single-signed Ruth ball—one of many signed by the Bambino in the auction—went for $13,695 as did a Type 1 original ‘The Babe Bows Out’ photo from 1948, signed by photographer Nat Fein.
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Nothing wrong with a nice find of barely touched vintage Topps cards. Dave Hobson of BaseballCardBuyer.com tells us he purchased hundreds of 1967 Topps originally obtained by a man who had bought them from a drug store owner in the 1970s.
It’s believed the store may have had a vending machine and the cards were leftover stock that sat around until the owner decided to find a taker. The 70s buyer had hung onto them ever since.
NM/MT and virtually mint examples of numerous Hall of Famers were part of the deal, along with hundreds of razor sharp commons. All are free of wax and gum stains with heavy duplication of some numbers.
“The cards are superb, yet many have the diamond cut/centering issues you find in vending runs,” Hobson lamented. “At one time there were more (but) the buyer traded some of them in the 80’s in exchange for 1980’s era sets.”
Hobson has dealt with vending runs before, once acquiring a lot of 1965 Topps that included more than 350 Tug McGraw rookie cards, all of which were sent off for grading. That’s where dozens of cards from this find are headed.
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