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Multiple graded Topps Mickey Mantle baseball cards and a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar rookie card have proudly been purchased by Just Collect after a collector found us through a Google search.
While reading our messages from the Just Collect e-mail account, we received an e-mail without a name or a phone number attached. The mysterious note came with eight images of Mickey Mantle Topps baseball cards from the 1950's and 1960's. The only words in the body of the e-mail were "This is a small portion of what I'm looking to sell. Thank you." No name, no information, and Mickey Mantle cards? This reminds us of the Unsolicited Collection, a mystery box filled with Mickey Mantle cards that arrived to our office without any information! Our Vice President of Acquisitions, John, reached out to the collector and not only did they have Mickey Mantle cards they wanted to sell, but a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar rookie card, too!
A 1958 Topps Mickey Mantle, card #150, graded PSA 3.5 is the oldest card in the batch. Mantle is featured on Topps cards for several years prior, including his 1952 Topps rookie card, but the 1958 release is a favorite in The Hobby. Mantle was fresh off an MVP award in 1957, and his New York Yankees won the World Series in 1958. You can see Mantle looking just away from the camera in front of a orange, eye-catching background. In the first and second pictures of the slide show below, you can see each of the cards from the collection.
The 1959 Topps card, #10, in the collection is graded PSA 4. This card is easily recognizable by the bright red background surrounding The Mick. A facsimile signature is scrawled just below Mantle's smirk. What do you think Mickey was thinking about in this picture?
Topps kept some of the red background from the 1959 Mantle card and designed the 1960 Topps set. Card #350, graded PSA 4, has a small photo of Mantle batting and a color photo of Mantle posing for the camera on this horizontally-designed release. As he did three other times in his illustrious career, Mantle led the league in home runs in 1960.
Your eyes are now looking at a 1963 Topps Mickey Mantle as you look at the cards in the slide show below. The green border at the bottom of the card is just under a photo of Mantle looking off to the side. This card, #200 is the set, is graded PSA 3. The images of The Mick are likely from the 1962 season in which he won his third MVP award, a seventh World Series championships, and a Gold Glove for his defense.
In 1964, Mickey Mantle was still putting up Hall of Fame numbers. When the season was over, Mantle finished second in the MVP voting behind his 33 home runs and 111 RBI. The Topps card, #50, is graded PSA 4. The design is pretty plain with just a black and white border but we love how Mantle is flashing those guns! Mickey's forearm looks like he could put on a clinic in the weight room. Notice Mantle doesn't wear batting gloves either. Batting gloves didn't really catch on until the 1970's.
With a pennant flag design for the team name and catchy colors around the card, the 1965 Topps Mantle, card #350, carries much more eye appeal than the previous year's card. Graded a PSA 5, this 1965 Topps card is one of the better-conditioned from the collection.
The final Mickey Mantle card in the collection is from the 1967 Topps set. By this season, Mantle was the age of 35. While young in today's standards, Mick had a lot of miles on those tires. This season marked the 17th in the big leagues for Mickey Mantle. You can see a more veteran look on Mantle's face in this up-close image for the 1967 release. Card #150 in the set is graded a PSA 5.
Along with the Mickey Mantle cards, a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar rookie card was included. From the 1969 Topps basketball set, card #50 is graded BVG 5.5. You may be more familiar with grading companies such as PSA and SGC. BVG is the Beckett grading company, and we DO buy cards graded by Beckett - especially a rookie card of legends like Kareem. Abdul-Jabbar is a six-time NBA champion, six-time MVP, made 19 All-Star teams, won three National Championships, and until this year was the all-time leading scorer in NBA history (recently broken by LeBron James).
Here are photos of this spectacular graded card collection:
After reviewing the images of the graded Mickey Mantle Topps cards and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar rookie card, our Vice President, John, evaluated the collection and responded with an offer within one day. For graded cards Just Collect typically offers between 70% to 80% of the final retail value. We always aim for the bullseye; we offer to pay the most we can for your collection! Auction houses always take a percentage of a sale and there is a gamble on whether or not your collection will receive the estimated price; you're relying on bidders. When you sell your cards on eBay, not only will you have to pay seller fees and possibly promotional fees, you always use the most precious thing: time. When you have graded Mickey Mantle cards or rookie cards of Hall of Fame legends such as Kareem, we pay strongly and instantly. From company check, wire transfer, or cash, when you sell your collection to Just Collect, we pay you how you want to be paid.
John began to write a company check and offer our fully-insured, two-day FedEx account number to complete the purchase. Only one hiccup - we still didn't know the name of our mystery collector! John was communicating with a gentleman named Marcelino. After reading our Google Reviews and reading our blogs with each of the amazing collections Just Collect has proudly purchased, Marcelino was so eager to sell his collection, he forgot to tell us his name. We've been there, Marcelino! We're hoping he might have more graded cards in his collection to sell to us in the future.
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 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.
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.
We keep a LIST of card shows we'll be attending. Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.
If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out.
We have another location in New York you can meet us at; read all the information here.
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.
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.
Whether you have vintage cards or modern wax you want to sell, you can reach out to us any time!