A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card hit $5.28 million on the first day of bidding on Monday.
At that price, it will already be the second-highest price ever paid for a card, topping the $5.2 million that entrepreneur Rob Gough paid for the same card in a PSA 9 in January 2021.
There are three 1952 Topps Mantle rookies graded by PSA as 10's, but those are in private collections and being held by the owners. The one being offered by Heritage Auctions, in an auction that closes on Aug. 28, is graded a 9.5 by card grader SGC.
Heritage estimates that the card is worth $10 million, but it could go higher than that. The current record holder is the $6.6 million paid for a Honus Wagner card, which was sold in Aug. 2021.
The finest 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle to ever reach the auction block opened for bidding today. What do you think the final price will be on August 27th?https://t.co/9gEhs8cuVKpic.twitter.com/KDyZmG8MMG
— Heritage Auctions Sports (@Heritage_Sport) July 25, 2022
The Mantle card up for auction was bought in 1985 for $1,000 by famous sports card buyer and seller Alan Rosen as part of his famous 1952 Topps find in Massachusetts, in which he found and purchased more than 6,000 cards in near gem mint condition. The find included 65 rookie Mantles of which this was the finest example.
This card was the best of the bunch, and Rosen was known to pay the most for cards at the time — and in cash.
Rosen flipped this Mantle rookie later that year for $3,500. He then bought it back in 1991 for $40,000 before selling it to diehard Yankees fan Anthony Giordano for $50,000. Giordano, now 75, consigned it to Heritage.
Baseball cards make up six of the 10 most expensive sales of all time, although Honus Wagner accounts for four of them. A different Mantle 1952 rookie card makes the list, as does a Mike Trout rookie card.
