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You are here: Home / Editor's Blog / Rosen Find Mantle Latest Barometer for Scorching 1952 Topps Card

Rosen Find Mantle Latest Barometer for Scorching 1952 Topps Card

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Bidding for the latest high-end 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card to come to public auction sits at $120,000 ($146,000 with the buyer’s premium) heading into the final days of bidding. Goldin Auctions is offering a PSA 7 (near mint) example as one of the featured atMickey Mantle PSA 7 1952 Topps cardtractions in its Holiday catalog.

The card’s history dates to “The Rosen Find” — a trove of 1952 Topps high number cards uncovered in 1986 by long-time dealer Alan “Mr. Mint” Rosen. Provenance from a legendary hobby find could be good for an extra bid or two.

Not that ’52 Mantles need any extra push.

Always considered one of the hobby’s two signature cards, it’s famous more for the story behind it than for being Mantle’s first Topps card. As long-time collectors and much of the public has known for years, Topps dumped hundreds of thousands of cards from that final series of 1952 into the ocean several years later because they literally couldn’t give them away.

There are plenty of cards that are more rare, but such a backstory has pushed interest from investors from outside the hobby. While the vintage card market as a whole has been on a wild ride over the last couple of years, there has been no card from the post-War era with a trajectory like this one.

$39,803

  • Average price for a PSA 7 sold at auction between May 2012 and May 2014

$188,672

  • Average price for a PSA 7 1952 Topps Mantle sold at auction between November 2015 and August 2016

That’s 374% increase if you’re scoring at home.

The record price for a PSA 7 1952 Mantle is $227,050, set a little over a year ago. The current auction should be a good indicator of where the current market stands.

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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].