1952 Topps

The PSA 8 Graded 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Sotheby’s Auctioned In 2005

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In June 2005, Sotheby’s offered this gorgeous PSA 8 graded 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle in their Important Sports Memorabilia and Cards catalog. The expected sales price was $40-50k! It’s now a million-dollar card after changing hands at least two more times!

I’m unsure what Sotheby’s sold the card for, or if it changed hands again, but in November 2014, it showed up in SCP’s Fall Premier Auction, where it sold for $268k.

Then, in May 2017, Memory Lane had the same card in their Spring Holy Grail Rarities Auction, where it sold for $462k.

I’m unsure if that buyer sold it since, but the PSA Card page for the cert shows that it was re-slabbed. Behold, over a million dollars in its plastic tomb!

It would be pretty cool if someone would trace the lineage of all the high-grade (PSA and SGC 8+) 1952 Mickey Mantle cards. It’s sort of just happened that I’ve started such a task with the T206 Wagner cards:

Happy Collecting!

A Look Back at the 1952 Topps Partial Uncut Sheet Auctioned at the 1992 National

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Superior Galleries auctioned off this awesome 1952 Topps partial uncut sheet of 12 triple-printed cards via the 13th National Sports Collectors Convention Auction in July 1992. I’d love to find a copy in color!

First, here’s the sheet’s complete description:

1952 Topps Partial Uncut Sheet of 12 Cards. This unique sheet has a triple-printed image on each card. Extremely difficult uncut sheet to acquire. Contains the following triple-printed cards: Johnny Mize, Jackie Jenson. This sheet must be seen to be appreciated. A great item for you uncut sheet collectors. Overall Excellent condition with some creases and some partial cards. Estimated Value $1200-2000.

There are a few of these in the hobby; in November 2013, Heritage sold this 9-card example for $1,673 (the back was also multi-printed).

Then, a few years later, in August 2015, they sold these multi-printed panels for $334 (which today feels like a robbery by the buyer!)

And in the spring of 2020, REA sold this double print error uncut panel for $1,680.

How many of these came from the same printing? I have no idea! But to learn more about 1952 Topps uncut sheets, I highly recommend the article What In The Wide World Of Sports Is Going On Here? by The Topps Archives.

Also, check out The Uncut Sheet Archive for more items like these, and happy collecting!

The Top 25 Most Expensive Baseball Cards In 1993

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“For those with cash, here are the top 25 most expensive baseball cards,”…as reported in the October 1993 issue of Sports Cards Magazine.

What really stands out is that there wasn’t a single contemporary or modern card on the list (“Sorry, there are no Frank Thomas or Ken Griffey rookie cards on this list”). However, the author also pointed out there wasn’t even a Ted Williams or a Joe DiMaggio (despite their popularity in the hobby at the time). The “youngest” card was a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle (though only 41 years old at the time), which is like including a card from 1983 on a list today.

1952 Topps Baseball Type Photos and Crossovers

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The 1952 Topps Baseball set is the crown jewel of post-war cards. Driven by my passion for uncovering the original photos behind iconic cards, I’m building the ultimate resource for the photos used in this legendary set. And since many of these images appeared across other sets of the era, I’m including those crossovers too.

If you have any additions, please reach out to me via e-mail or on X.

1952 Topps Baseball High Numbers Advertising Insert

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The following rare 1952 Topps baseball high numbers two-color advertising promo was designed to be inserted in cases and later displayed at points of sale, but few have survived. This example is from the November 2000 Mastro Fine Sports Auction catalog.

At the time, they wrote that the 7” x 11-1/2” window display piece was one of two known survivors. Other than the two folds across the sheet, as issued, they described the piece as being in Near Mint Condition.

In 2017, REA sold the following example, which looks different from Mastro’s, for $13,200.

REA wrote, “Extremely rare 1952 Topps advertising poster features images of a large wax pack near the center and a smaller head-shot image of Jackie Robinson (same used on his actual 1952 Topps card) in the lower-left corner. The text printed in red reads “New Series… just out! Over 400 Players.” To the left of the wax pack are the names of five major stars from the high-number series listed with a red star in front each one of their respective names. Listed are Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Roy Campanella, Bobby Thomson, and Pee Wee Reese. Along the bottom next to the small image of Robinson the text reads “Listen To The Jackie Robinson Show Every Saturday 9:30 A. M. WNBC.” The poster, designed to be inserted into cases and later displayed in candy-stores, announced to the world that the new baseball set was finally available. This poster has a Near Mint appearance with two natural vertical fold lines (as issued). Because of their intended use, it is understandable that few of these point-of-sale advertising displays have survived. We have seen fewer than five examples of this rare Topps poster over the past thirty-five years. A superb and extremely rare poster, which would be an outstanding companion piece to any complete 1952 Topps set or addition to any world-class advertising collection. The poster measures 11-1/4 x 6-1/4 inches and has also been matted and framed to dimensions of 18-1/4 x 13 inches.”

REA resold the same piece for $21,600 in the spring of 2019.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

1952 Topps Baseball Advertisement

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Here’s a Hobby Libary pick-up I made at the 2024 National, a 1952 All-Star Game program.

Why? Oh, there’s an ad for a baseball card set you may have heard of in it: 1952 Topps.

PS: The NL beat the AL in the game 3-2 behind Jackie Robinson and Hank Sauer’s home runs.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

1952 Topps Color Process Proof Cards

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The other day, I published a piece about the 1952 Topps baseball progressive proof uncut sheets. I shared that, after buying all seven of them from Sotheby’s in 1992, it looked like the owner trimmed the full-color process proof sheet before reselling the full series of seven sheets at REA in 2006 (they very well could have changed hands a few more times over the years, I have no idea). The next owner saved the final color-process proof sheet but cut up the other six progressive proof sheets and slabbed each card with SGC before reselling them all with REA again in 2009.

The final color-process proof sheet sold for $18,800 in that 2009 REA auction. In the description, REA wrote “The final sheet was originally accompanied by six color process proof sheets, which have since been perfectly cut and organized by player, and are represented by the twenty lots that follow this one.”

Each of the twenty 1952 Topps proof card groups included the following color processes: 1) Red, yellow, and blue printing. A card which is very close in appearance to a final process card, but with the black printing missing. 2) Yellow and red printing.  3) Yellow printing. 4) Red printing. 5) Blue printing. 6) Black printing.

The two priciest groups of six color-process proof cards sold belonged to Andy Pafko ($3,819) and Warren Spahn ($2,644).

The other 18 lots of six cards sold for between $470 and $1,763.

If you search other auction house archives, you’ll find that many have been resold over the years. For example, MHCC sold the Runnels cards for $840 in March 2019, Brockelman sold the DiMaggio cards for $2,085 in June 2018, and REA re-sold the Pafko cards for $3,120 in their 2023 spring auction.