Willie Mays Rookie Card Sells for Record $390,935

A 1951 Bowman Willie Mays rookie card sold for a record $390,935 late Sunday night as Robert Edward Auctions closed out its Summer Catalog Auction. 

Eleven bids were entered for the card—the highest graded example to appear on the auction block in more than 15 years.  There are no PSA 10 Mays rookie cards and only eight 9s. 

The sale comes just a week after Goldin sold a PSA 8 copy of Mays’ first trading card for $207,400.

The REA consignor designated proceeds from the auction for a college scholarship endowment.

The auction included nearly 3,200 lots in all, 13 of which topped the six-figure plateau. The second highest price also set a record:  a 1933 Goudey Nap Lajoie PSA 4.5 that sold for $162,000—the most ever paid for a card at that grade level.

In all, the auction generated more than $13.3 million in sales across 82,000+ bids. 

An autographed 1949 Bowman Roy Campanella rookie (PSA 3) with a PSA 9 signature grade—one of only two graded by PSA—netted $132,000. 

It was one of several autographed cards that drew attention from bidders.  A 1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card graded 7 with a 7 autograph rating sold for $120,000.

The 20^th ranked 1956 Topps baseball set on PSA’s Registry soared to $111,000 while the third ranked 1912 T202 Hassan Triple Folders set sold for $96,000.  The 17^th best 1960 Topps baseball set went for the same price.

Football card fans saw the sixth best 1972 Topps set, including the third series, climb to $36,000.

Game-used memorabilia had a strong presence in the auction. The top seller was a newly discovered 1936-1937 Dizzy Dean St. Louis Cardinals game-used road jersey that sold for $114,000, the highest price ever realized for a Dizzy Dean game-used item.

Some of the other notable sales in the Summer event included:

• 1933 R338 Sport Kings #2 Babe Ruth PSA NM-MT 8 – $120,000 
• 1915 Boston Red Sox Real-Photo Team Postcard with Babe Ruth Rookie – $114,000
• 1980 Topps #482 Rickey Henderson Rookie PSA GEM MINT 10 – $111,000
• 1909-1911 T206 White Border Cy Young Glove Shows PSA EX+ 5.5 – Broad Leaf 460 Back – The ONLY PSA-Graded Example – $111,000 
• 1979-1980 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #18 Wayne Gretzky Rookie PSA MINT 9 – $105,000
• 1914 E145 Cracker Jack #103 Joe Jackson SGC GOOD+ 2.5 – $102,000 (record for the SGC grade)
• 1933 V353 World Wide Gum Canadian Goudey #80 Babe Ruth PSA NM 7 – $96,000 (record for the card)
• 1984-1985 Star Company Basketball #101 Michael Jordan Rookie BGS NM-MT+ 8.5 – $52,800 (record for the Beckett grade)

“This was a very exciting auction across the board and we’re pleased with the countless new record prices that were established in so many different areas of the hobby,” remarked Brian Dwyer, President of REA. “As always, we owe a huge thank you to the consignors who entrust us with these incredible items, and the bidders who made this yet another record-setting catalog auction for us.”

REA’s next event will be its September Encore Auction that runs from September 12-22.

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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].