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A new world record for most valuable baseball card of all-time has been set, and the record was SMASHED! A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card was sold for 12.6 million dollars last night. You won't believe how much the record was set by.

Move over, Honus Wanger; Mickey Mantle is the KING of baseball cards now. Earlier this month we told you about a T206 Honus Wagner card setting an all-time record in a 7.2 million-dollar sale. The price tag was 1 million dollars MORE than the old record. The record didn't last long. Late last night, a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card was sold for a staggering sum of 12.6 MILLION dollars. 

You read that correctly - 12.6 million. This sale price is 5.4 million dollars more than the old record!

1952 TOPPS MICKEY MANTLE SGC 9.5 - 12.6 MILLION DOLLARS

Offered by Heritage Auctions, this particular Mantle rookie card has an amazing backstory. At card #311 in the 1952 Topps baseball card set, Mantle's card was placed in the "sixth series." In 1952, Topps released their set in multiple series during the baseball season. This idea sounded like a fine marketing tool at the time. By releasing cards numbered 1-80 in "series 1" and not releasing all 407 cards simultaneously, collectors would not be able to build a complete set of cards early in the baseball season. This would keep collectors purchasing cards all season, or so Topps and distributors thought. When Fall came around, collectors were more interested in football. The forgotten sixth series, cards #311 - 407, were disposed of by being DUMPED IN THE OCEAN! Many of Mantle's rookie cards were lost at sea.

In 1986, Alan "Mr. Mint" Rosen discovered possibly the greatest find in the hobby. A man in Quincy, Massachusetts told Rosen about well-conditioned 1952 Topps baseball cards from the high-number series. When Mr. Mint asked "how many Mantles" the seller had, the answer was 30. Wait - THIRTY Mantle rookie cards? A trip to the home of Ted Lodge resulted in hobby history. Lodge's father had worked as a delivery driver for the distribution of the Topps cards. After Mr. Mint sat down with Lodge, out came a silver tray of 1952 Topps cards in mint condition, and sure enough Rosen pulled out a stack of pristine cards from the high-numbered series. The total of Mantle cards alone ended up being an estimated 75!

On June 17th, 1991, the Mantle you see above was sold from Mr. Mint to a collector for $40,000. Accompanying the sale was a letter from Mr. Mint stating the card was is the "finest known example in the world." The card was recently graded 9.5 out of 10 by SGC and the final sale price at auction last night was 12.6 million dollars! From $40,000 to 12.6 million in 31 years; vintage cards are hotter than ever!

WE ARE ALWAYS BUYING

If you have a Mickey Mantle rookie card that you're interested in selling, we are always interested in purchasing your collection. We have purchased many Mickey Mantle rookie cards including The Black Box Collection and Grandpa's Shoe box Collection.

Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 1979 as well as select modern cards. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer. If you have a collection that you want to be appraised, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your collection and help you understand the real cash value of your collection in the current marketplace. Check out the Just Collect Buy List.

We always offer a FREE APPRAISAL for your collection here at the Just Collect site. Just click here:

We offer many ways to evaluate your cards other than using our website, too.

• Come to the convention

We keep a LIST of the card shows we'll be attending.  Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.

• Meet in-person

If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out. We recently took a trip to California to purchase a collection that included three Jackie Robinson 1948 Leaf rookie cards that you can read about here.

• Meet in New York City

We have another location in New York you can meet us at; read all the information here.

• SHIP your collection 

If you choose to mail your cards for an appraisal, we will evaluate your cards for FREE still. If you choose not to sell the cards, we'll ship them back with shipping fees paid by us!  We can offer our FedEx account with 2-day shipping, fully insured, all covered by us. Simply contact the office to set up this option.

OUR BUYING PHILOSOPHY

We've run into a wide range of people and collections over the last 25 years. Although Just Collect is known for buying vintage sports cards and especially vintage baseball cards, we are also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, too!  

Every collection and every collector is different and we treat EVERY collection with the respect and attention that we show for our own collections. We understand that many have put their heart and souls into building their collections. So when you're ready to sell, we understand the feelings that you're going through and will work with you to help you reach a decision that is a WIN/WIN, because if you're not happy, we're not happy.

CONTACT US ANY TIME

Whether you have vintage cards or modern wax you want to sell, you can reach out to us any time! 

• JustCollect.com
• (732) 828-2261
• info@justcollect.com
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