A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card (#311), graded 9 (mint) by SGC, has sold at auction for $4.5 million.
One of the hobby’s leading auction houses, Heritage Auctions, confirmed the sale of the card on August 19th, as part of their Summer Platinum Night Sports Auction.
The final sale price of $4.5m represents the highest sports card sale of 2023 so far, and the 7th highest value public sports card sale of all-time. 3 of the top 7 public sports card sales are now the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle (#311) card.
The famous Mantle card’s high value is driven by not only his iconic name, but also the card’s scarcity, with only an estimated 1,800 in existence, and a very small percentage of those being in mint or near-mint condition; Due to the scarcity of the card in the highest grades, there’s a big premium on their value.
The huge sale comes just a year after the same Mickey Mantle card, graded a higher 9.5 (mint+) by SGC, was sold via Heritage Auctions for $12.6 million, which is a record public sports card sale – No sports card has ever sold for more.
It remains to be seen whether the extra 0.5 grading point is worth the additional $8.1m that the SGC 9.5 version sold for in 2022, compared to this latest sale of the SGC 9 graded version.
SGC’s population report shows only 2 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle cards graded a 9, and only 1 graded a 9.5 – There are currently none graded a 10 by SGC, but there are 3 graded a 10 by PSA, according to their own population report.
While there haven’t been any public sales for one of the PSA 10 versions yet, they’re believed to be worth more than the record-breaking SGC 9.5 version.
