Contact Us

Dozens of Mickey Mantle Cards Loose in a Box Purchased by Just Collect

LOOSE in a Box - No Holders or Protection!

February 24, 2026

Dozens of Mickey Mantle cards and other Hall of Famers LOOSE in a box! We often get asked if there are ungraded, vintage collections still in the world. When you see this collection, you'll understand why we say YES!

A question we get asked frequently is "Are there still ungraded collections being discovered?", and the answer is an easy - YES! Many sports cards these days go through grading by professional graders such as PSA or SGC. Grading a card through a professional helps both collectors and buyers establish an unbiased opinion on the condition of a card. As you know, condition is VERY important when determining the value of a card. However, even though PSA and SGC grade MILLIONS of cards, there are still plenty of ungraded (also called "raw") vintage cards still being discovered every day! This collection is a fine example - and we tell you these cards came up our office LOOSE - we mean loose. No holders at all.

THE COLLECTION

When David reached out through our easy-to-use , our Vice President, John, began the process to review the collection. The retail stores are focused on selling modern products and simply don't have the time or the knowledge to carefully evaluate vintage collections like this. 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. After receiving images of the collection, we knew that David owned vintage Topps baseball cards from the 1957, 1958, and 1959 sets. At Just Collect, we offer many ways to evaluate and purchase your collection including meeting you at our store here in Summit, NJ., at a show or convention such as The Philly Show, and we do travel for large, high-end collections. David opted to SHIP his collection to our store, but he missed one very important tip we always provide: How to package your cards for shipping.

As we opened box, dozens of cards featuring Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, and Roberto Clemente were inside. Another tip we offer is how to safely store your cards. David may not have understand the value of these vintage cards! Remember - condition is VERY important when determining the value of your cards. When grading your cards on a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being gem mint, a change in just a single number could alter the value of your card by hundreds if not thousands of dollars! When cards are not stored safely or shipped securely, corners can be dinged, cards could be bent, and the value of those cards go down.

The good news - despite how the cards were shipped, these cards were in nice condition! As we pulled cards from the box, we discovered:

(11) 1958 Topps Mickey Mantle All-Star
(7) 1958 Topps Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron World Series Batting Foes
(7) 1958 Topps Nellie Fox All-Star
(6) 1958 Topps Ed Mathews
(5) 1958 Topps Nellie Fox
(4) 1958 Ted Williams All-Star
+ More duplicates of Hall of Famers!

As you review the photos below, you can see the actual box and contents in the first two pictures. In the third picture, you can see we placed the Mantle and Aaron cards in Card Savers for protection. Stars from the 1957 Topps set include Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays in the fourth photo. The fifth photo is another who's who of baseball including more cards of Mays, Aaron, and Mantle, as well as Yogi Berra, Frank Robinson, and the run of Ed Mathews duplicates. The final two photos include the run of Nellie Fox cards, and the All-Star cards from the 1958 Topps set.

We didn't ask David, but with all of the duplicates, it appears he tried to complete the 1958 Topps set and held onto his extras! In the 1950's kids were playing FLIP or trading their cards to get better players or to complete sets. David smartly kept the duplicates, though; when the time came to sell his collection, he had dozens of Hall of Famers! While we strongly recommend not to ship your cards how David did, it was a fun surprise to reach into a box and pull out a dozen Mickey Mantle cards; that doesn't happen every day.

After reviewing the collection, John made a strong offer to David to purchase the entire collection, and both agreed. We then paid David how he wanted to be paid. When you choose Just Collect, we can pay you in cash, company check, or wire transfer. Just remember our tips for storing and shipping your cards when you're ready to sell!

Photos of the collection:

Love this story? Check out other blogs featuring incredible collections such as:

The Oregon Farm Collection with a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle discovered in an old barn!
Two 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie cards - a pair of rookies from the Great One!
1990's Precious Metal Gem basketball cards include some of the rarest, most sought-after cards in modern history.
The Aaron Judge Collection with high-end one of one cards and multiple rookie autos.
Topps Venezuela Collection including a scarce Willie Mays card.

Our FREE newsletter is the best way to keep up on collections we've purchased, shows we'll be at to buy and sell collections, podcasts, cards we have for sale, and so much more! You can sign up for our newsletter by clicking below:

WE ARE ALWAYS BUYING

Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 2009 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 many 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.