Led by piles of vintage unopened boxes and Michael Jordan cards, a Mile High Card Company’s first catalog auction of 2021 took in over $5.6 million. The Colorado-based auction house is hoping the results are an indication of bigger things to come. “A few of the real outliers have started to recede slightly, but in all, the hobby is strong and getting even stronger,” Mile … [Read more...]
Packs of Sports Cards Were Once a Grocery Enticement
Ever since tobacco companies used them as collectible package stiffeners for fragile boxes of cigarettes, baseball cards have been inserted into consumer products. They've been in smokes, soda, snack cakes and razor blades--just to name a few. Sometimes, though, the promotion went between their traditional home inside bubble gum card packs and the food products that … [Read more...]
Mickey Mantle Rookie Card Smashes Record in Memory Lane Auction
A little over four years ago, Memory Lane generated headlines with the sale of a PSA 9 (mint) Mickey Mantle rookie card. Early Sunday morning, that record-setting $220,150 sale was blown away in the company’s Fall Auction when the same 1951 Bowman gem soared to $588,000. The iconic card topped bidding in Memory Lane’s Fall Classic Auction, which tallied over $3.5 … [Read more...]
Notes: Mantle Rookie Sales; Baseball Artist at Work; Topps ‘Cards’ in Braves’ New Park; Heritage Museum
A PSA 7 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle sold for $42,101 late Monday night, the seventh recorded sale of over $32,000 for a Mantle rookie since last August. The going rate prior to the middle of 2015 was $10,000-$15,000. That’s now what you’ll pay for a card in the 4-5 range (and there are several listed right now). The average price of a 1952 Topps Mantle in that same … [Read more...]
1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle: Undervalued?
You’ll sometimes hear the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle referred to as his rookie card. I guess if you’re strictly a Topps collector it is. Topps didn’t yet have a full MLB license until then so the famous #311 card from the scarce series is the first time Mantle appeared on a Topps card. However, true fans of vintage baseball cards know that the 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle is … [Read more...]
Mays Rookie Stolen from Rob Schneider’s Home
Burglars who broke into the Bay Area home of actor/comedian Rob Schneider last Friday made off with a high-grade Willie Mays 1951 Bowman rookie card. Schneider, said to be an avid collector of vintage cards and a former Saturday Night Live cast member and star of ‘Deuce Bigalow’, was at a film festival in Montreal at the time and his wife and daughter were out to … [Read more...]