Rookie cards of Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Bill Russell and Wayne Gretzky and multiple Babe Ruth items are the focal point in a newly launched auction.
PWCC’s September Vintage Premier Auction features only about three dozen items but most will be familiar to collectors of some of the hobby’s most popular issues.
The auction includes an SGC 8 (NM/MT) 1953 Topps Willie Mays that’s considered among the top examples in the hobby. Only four examples of Mays’ third year card from the high-number series rank higher on SGC’s pop report.
The Mays rookie offered in the auction grades PSA 6.
Ruth is well represented in the auction, with a unique autographed item among the listings. It dates to a 1936 trip to Nova Scotia and is postmarked on the day Ruth boarded the S.S. Acadia for the trip north where he’d eventually take some swings in an exhibition for the locals, answer questions from reporters and, of course, sign as many autographs as he could.
Recently authenticated by PSA, the small colored envelope was dated by the original owner.
Another Ruth signed piece is also part of the auction. The 2001 Upper Deck “Legends of New York” cut signature card carries the rare “G.H. Ruth” signature and is the lone copy of five from the issue to carry a PSA 10 grade.
The top Mantle cards in the auction include a PSA 4 copy of his ever popular first Topps card from 1952 and a PSA 5.5 copy of his 1951 Bowman rookie card.
A PSA 1 copy of one of the “Big Four” cards from the T206 set is on the block as well. The Sherry “Magie” error makes up one-fourth of the quartet of cards that also includes the famed Honus Wagner, Eddie Plank and Larry Doyle “NY Nat’l” error. Several other T206 cards including those featuring Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson are also in the auction.
One of 537 BGS 9.5 copies of Michael Jordan’s 1986-87 Fleer rookie cards leads off the basketball portion of the sale. Of the more than 13,500 Jordan rookies examined by Beckett, the card ranks among the top four percent with only six higher. There’s also a PSA 9 Jordan rookie in the sale.
A PSA 7 1957-58 Topps Bill Russell is also in the auction along with a BVG 9.5 1980-81 Topps Magic Johnson/Larry Bird rookie card.
High-grade copies of Wayne Gretzky’s Canadian issued 1979-80 rookie are tough to locate but the auction includes a PSA copy of the O-Pee-Chee card that’s a brother to the American-issued Topps brand.
Football card collectors will see a 1971 Topps “Mean Joe” Greene rookie card graded PSA 9—one of 14 at that level in the condition sensitive set.
Juan Fangio became the first F1 superstar decades ago, after he captured five F1 championships within the first 10 years of the sport. His talent earned him a spot in the massive Editrice Didasco Albosport trading card set which featured a whopping 675 subjects across 14 sports. Fangio is one of only 25 drivers to be included.
PSA has assessed seven examples of Fangio’s card from this 1951 Italian production, and only one has earned a higher distinction than the PSA 6 card offered by PWCC.
The auction runs through September 28 when Extended Bidding begins at 7 p.m. PT.
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