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While watching the Just Collect YouTube channel, a collector saw that we buy graded Mickey Mantle cards. A short e-mail and free appraisal later, we proudly purchased a run of Mantle cards! Now, thanks to a reel that popped up on his screen, the collector has the funds to pay off the car he promised his son he would do for his 18th birthday.

Joe was on the Just Collect YouTube channel watching a reel mentioning we buy graded cards of Mickey Mantle. Selling his collection of cards wasn't something he thought of, but Joe made a promise to pay off his son's car once he turned 18. After filling out our easy-to-use , Joe was on his way to getting the funds he needed!

THE COLLECTION

About ten years ago, Joe began collecting Mickey Mantle cards. If you were asked to name a baseball player, any player, chances are you say Mantle, Babe Ruth, and Hank Aaron. Though a New York Mets fan, he knew that investing into Mantle, a New York Yankee, would be a wise choice. Mantle helped his New York Yankees to seven World Series championships, won three MVP awards, and is one of the most famous players in all of baseball. Initially, the investment was into Tom Brady! Having many Brady cards, Joe found it tough to keep up with the hobby. Most modern products release multiple variations of a single card. Example: A Panini Prizm football card from 2024 has the base, disco, green, pink, blue, etc. To collect one card of each player, you'd need 64 cards! There is just one card of Mickey Mantle in most Topps sets. Eventually, Joe decided to sell his Brady collection on eBay. He was able to find one buyer from the Boston area who reached out to him and asked if he can sell him all of his Brady cards in one shot. He was happy to oblige. However, he did keep a couple of Brady rookie cards in case he needed some funds in the future. The funds from the Brady sale went into the vintage market, and Joe focused on Mantle.

In the first photo below, in the top row, are the key cards from the collection. Here, you'll see cards from: 1953 Topps, 1954 Bowman, 1955 Bowman, 1956 Topps, and 1957 Topps sets. Mantle cards from 1958 Topps and 1959 Topps are in the second row along with all-star cards and the Power Hitters card Mantle shares with Yogi Berra. As you scroll through the photos, you see the nearly every Mantle card from his playing days! We also love the unique cards such as the 1964 Topps Giants and the 1968 Topps game card in the last photo.

The 1951 Bowman Mantle and 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie cards were out of Joe's budget, but he came up with a cool idea to complete the run of every Mickey Mantle card from 1951-1969 - he picked up a pair of reprint cards made in 1996. Reprint cards do not carry high value, but look nice on display.

Photos of the collection:

APPRAISAL AND PURCHASE

After receiving Joe's appraisal form, our vintage card specialist, Dan Phillips, reached out to Joe about his collection. Dan asked for images of the front of the Mantle cards to see whether the PSA label was older or if the cards were recently graded. We often check when each card was graded as PSA graders were more lenient in their early days of grading. A card graded in 1999 wasn't graded a strongly as they are today as technology and experience have increased greatly over the last few decades. Using a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being Gem Mint perfect, even a change of just a single number on the grade could change the value of a Mickey Mantle card by thousands, if not multiple thousands of dollars! A PSA 8 in 1999 might be a PSA 7 today, and many collectors in the hobby are aware of this. This information will help you in both selling and buying vintage cards! The retail stores are focused on selling modern products and simply don't have the time or the knowledge to carefully evaluate vintage collections and teach you about "old" PSA labels vs. "new" PSA labels. 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.

Fun question for you - when did you send your first card into be graded? Did you submit back in the 1990's? Let us know in the comments below or post on our socials media pages (linked below!).

After looking at the images of the front of each Mantle card, Dan spoke with our Vice President, John Palomares, where each came to an offer to purchase Joe's collection. At Just Collect, we are paying record prices for graded Mickey Mantle cards! We made a fair offer to Joe that he accepted. When then paid Joe how he wanted to be paid! When you sell your collection to Just Collect, we can pay you in cash, company check, or wire transfer. 

Joe opted to bring his collection to our office here in Summit, NJ., he waited for us to verify the holders and was paid with a company check. We offer many ways to evaluate and purchase your collection! If you are near our store, we always welcome you with open arms. We travel for large, high-end collections, and we also attend shows and conventions such as The Philly show! 

Now, Joe is able to pay off his son's car with the cash from these Mickey Mantle cards. He might reach back out to us at Just Collect in four years when his next son is ready for a car, too! As we mentioned earlier, Joe held onto a few Tom Brady rookie cards, and we DO buy Tom Brady rookies at Just Collect! We're glad your son doesn't have any more car payments, Joe!

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

• The Cooperstown Collection purchased in the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame and has multiple rookie cards of Hank Aaron.
• 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.

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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 may ways to evaluate your cards other than or using our website, too.

• 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.

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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