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1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Rookie Discovered After Decades in Shed on Farm

Family Discovered Dad's Cards Stored on the Farm since 1952!

June 27, 2025

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A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card was discovered in a shed on a family farm decades after their dad stored a card collection there! Just Collect proudly purchased The Oregon Farm Collection with a backstory for the books.

We always tell you to look for vintage cards in unexpected places. Margo did just that and discovered her father's baseball card collection in the back of a shed on their Oregon farm. Inside the boxes of cards were legendary players from iconic sets, and the Holy Grail of cards - a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card.

THE OREGON FARM COLLECTION

In 1952, a young man started a childhood baseball card collection, just like you and we did. Between 1952 and 1958, the lad would go to his local general store and purchase packs. Opening up each pack, moving that stick of gum to the side (remember when wax packs of cards had gum inside?), the collector dug into those cardboard treasures. As he grew older, the young man lost interest in the cards and eventually stored them in boxes in the back of the shed on his family's farm in South Oregon.

Decades later, in the 1980's, the man's daughter went out to that old family shed and discovered cardboard boxes filled with baseball cards. Unfortunately, many of the cards were destroyed due to the elements. Years of weather exposure took a toll on the cards. This is why we always offer tips on how to safely store your collection. However, the cards that did stand the test of time are some of the most famous and valuable in our hobby!

As you view the photos below, the star of the show is the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card. The first photo you see is the front of the Mantle rookie. Mantle is holding a bat on his shoulder as he looks off into the distance, maybe thinking about where he was going to hit that next home run. The second photo is the back of Mantle's rookie card. It's not often you see the back of a Mantle rookie so we wanted to show you the reverse! Is this the first time you've seen Mantle's middle name? Charles! In 1952, Mantle was 20 years-old and on his way to a Hall of Fame career as a New York Yankee. A three-time MVP, Mantle won seven World Series championships, and finished his career with 536 home runs. Mantle's home run total has him 18th all-time in MLB history despite not taking an at-bat since he retired after 1968, 57 years ago! The front of the Mantle has stains and rounded corners. We graded the card with SGC and the card received a grade of 1 on a scale from 1 to 10. Condition is VERY important when determining the value of your cards. Using this exact Mickey Mantle card as an example, the value of a "1" is around $25,000. A "2" grade is valued around $40,000. A "10" is worth tens of millions of dollars; only THREE 1952 Topps Mantle cards have ever been graded a "10."

The third photo has a few more cards from the 1952 Topps baseball card set including other stars like Ed Matthews and Phil Rizzuto. While just one Mantle rookie was in the collection, there were other Mantle cards from other years! There were also cards from some of the greatest baseball players ever to step onto the diamond.

As you look at the fourth photo, you'll see a run of 1958 Topps baseball cards including the Mantle All-Star card with the red background and yellow stars. Below the 1958 Topps cards are 1953 Topps baseball cards with Mantle and the great Jackie Robinson. After heroically breaking the color barrier in 1947, Robinson went on to win Rookie of the Year that season and an MVP award in 1949. Robinson brought his Brooklyn Dodgers a World Series victory of Mantle's Yankees in 1955. Below the 1953 cards are 1954 Topps baseball cards. Leading off is an Ernie Banks rookie card. Mr. Cub won back-to-back MVP awards in 1958 and 1959, and made 14 All-Star teams. Jackie Robinson sits next to perhaps the greatest all-around player, Willie Mays. Mays hit more home runs than Mickey Mantle (660), had more hits than Mantle (3,205), and stole more bases than Mantle (328), and won more Gold Gloves than Mantle (12). The 24-time All-Star captured the World Series with his New York Giants the year this card found it's way into a wax pack. If Mays was the greatest all-around player, the greatest hitter is often recognized as Ted Williams. Teddy Ballgame is on the last card in that run of 1954 Topps cards in the fourth photo. Williams had a "down" year in 1954, batting "only" .345. In 1941, Williams had a .406 batting average! Not a single player has had a .400 or better average since Williams in 1941. For comparison, the MLB leader in 2025 was Bobby Witt Jr at .332. Williams has a career batting average of .344, sixth all-time, and slugged 521 home runs, 20th all-time.

1955 Bowman baseball cards are in the fifth photo. Along with Mantle and Mays, Roy Campanella and Pee Wee Reese are in the collection. "Campy" and Pee Wee were part of that 1955 Dodgers World Series championship team with Jackie! On the top right, your eyes are glaring at a young Hank Aaron! Aaron's rookie card is in the 1954 Topps set. The second-year Aaron is on the "TV" design that Bowman gave us. How good was Hank Aaron? You know about the 755 career home runs and his passing of Babe Ruth.

However, if you took ALL of Aaron's 755 home runs away, he'd still have more than 3,000 career hits. Aaron has 3,771 hits, good enough for third all-time. Aaron hasn't played a game since 1975 and still holds the record for most career RBIs at 2,297.

One of our favorite sets is in the final photo below - 1956 Topps baseball cards. We love the horizontal design of this set! You can also see there is a close-up image of each player and an action shot behind! Jackie Robinson, Ernie Banks, Hank Aaron and others are here, but this was the first card of Roberto Clemente in the collection. This second-year card of Clemente is beautiful! Clemente gave his Pittsburgh Pirates two World Series championships, was the 1966 NL MVP, won 12 Gold Glove awards, and four batting titles. Clemente joined the 3,000 hit club in 1972. Sadly, we lost Clemente in a plane crash shortly after the season while he was on his way to send aid packages to Managua after an earthquake.

Here are photos of the cards discovered in the Oregon Farm Collection:

APPRAISAL AND PURCHASE

After discovering the cards in the 1980's, the daughter of the original owner kept the cards inside her home. After salvaging the cards that weren't damaged out in the shed, she held onto the cards until she found the right time to sell. The retail stores are focused on selling modern products and simply don't have the time or the knowledge to carefully evaluate vintage collections. This is where we are happy to help you! We have purchased thousands upon thousands of collections and bought and sold over 50 MILLION dollars in cards.

Just Collect offered the family a . We then made the family a fair offer to purchase the entire collection! The family happily agreed to sell their collection and opted to SHIP the cards to our store here in New Jersey. We offer many ways to evaluate and purchase your collection including our two-day, fully-insured FedEx Express account! You're also welcome to visit our store in New Jersey, meet us at a show or convention such as The National Sports Collectors Convention, and we do travel for large, high-end collections. After learning how to package the cards for shipping, the cards were shipped in that incredible organic ketchup box you see in the photo above! We then paid the family how they wanted to be paid. When you sell your collection to Just Collect, we can pay you in cash, check, or wire transfer.

The original owner of the cards is still with us today. The daughter is using the money from the sale to spend more time with her dad! We couldn't be more thrilled to hear that! The owner of Just Collect, Leighton, recently took his son, Crosby, on his first trip to purchase a baseball card collection. You can the full story and see the video with Leighton and Crosby purchasing a 1909-11 T206 collection HERE.

Thank you to the entire family for choosing Just Collect to purchase your collection!

This isn't our first purchase of a Mickey Mantle rookie card that was stored in an odd place and forgotten about! A Mickey Mantle rookie card was stored under jars of pickles .We proudly purchased that collection and many others that you can read about on our blog.

We are always buying cards and collections here a Just Collect, and are paying record prices! If you are interested in selling your collection, here is out how you can reach out today:

WE ARE ALWAYS BUYING

Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 1989 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 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 may ways to evaluate your cards other than or using our website, too.

Travel to Us

If you can make the trip here like the son from my hometown did for this collection- we can make a deal at the office. We once met a father-son duo that drove eight hours from Virginia to meet us to sell a Michael Jordan rookie card stored in Tupperware since 1986 - great read here.

Come to convention

We keep a LIST of 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.

Meet in New York City

If you're near New York City and would like to meet in a public place, our owner, Leighton, would be happy to meet you; 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 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.