NEW YORK (AP) – A mint condition Mickey Mantle baseball card sold for $12.6 million on Sunday, blasting into the record books as the most ever paid for sports memorabilia in a market that has grown exponentially more lucrative in recent years.
The rare Mantle card eclipsed the record just posted a few months ago – $9.3 million for the jersey worn by Diego Maradona when he scored the controversial “Hand of God” goal in soccer’s 1986 World Cup.
It easily topped the $7.25 million for a century-old Honus Wagner baseball card recently sold in a private sale.
And just last month, the heavyweight boxing belt regained by Muhammad Ali during the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” sold for nearly $6.2 million.
All are part of a booming market for sports collectibles.
Prices have risen not only for the rarest items, but also for pieces that may have been gathering dust in garages and attics. Many of these items come to consumer auction sites like eBay, while others are offered by auction houses.
Because of its near-perfect condition and its legendary theme, the Mantle card was destined to be a top seller, said Chris Ivy, the director of sports auctions at Heritage Auctions, which handled the bidding.
Some have seen collectibles as a hedge against inflation over the past two years, he said, while others have rekindled childhood passions.
Ivy said savvy investors saw inflation coming down the road — as it did. As a result, sports memorabilia has become an alternative to traditional Wall Street investments or real estate — especially among members of Generation X and older millennials.
“There’s only so much Netflix and ‘Tiger King’ people watch (during the pandemic). So, you know, they went back to hobbies, and clearly sports picking was part of that,” said Ivy, who noticed an increase in calls among potential sellers
Add to that interest from wealthy overseas collectors and you have a confluence of factors that have made sports collectibles especially attractive, Ivy said.
“We kind of started to see some growth and a little bit of an increase in the prices, which led to some media coverage. And I think everything is building on itself,” he said. “I would say that the beginning of the pandemic really added fuel to that fire.”
Before the pandemic, the sports memorabilia market was valued at more than $5.4 billion, according to a 2018 Forbes interview with David Yoken, the founder of Collectable.com.
By 2021, that market has grown to $26 billion, according to research firm Market Decipher, which predicts the market will grow astronomically to $227 billion within a decade — fueled in part by the rise of so-called NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. which are digital collectibles with unique data-encrypted fingerprints.
Sports cards were especially in demand as people spent more time at home and there was an opportunity to rummage through potential treasures of childhood memories, including old comic books and small stacks of bubblegum cards featuring marquee sports stars.
That allure of making money off something that might sit in a kid’s basement was irresistible, according to Stephen Fishler, founder of ComicConnect, who has watched the growing rise — and profitability — of collectibles traded through auction houses.
“In short, the world of modern sports cards has gone mad,” he said.
The Mantle baseball card dates from 1952 and is widely regarded as one of only a handful of the baseball legend in nearly perfect condition.
The auction netted a nice profit for Anthony Giordano, a New Jersey waste management entrepreneur who bought it for $50,000 at a New York show in 1991.
“As soon as it hit 10 million, I just went in. I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore,” Giordano, 75, said Sunday morning. His sons monitored the auction for him. “They stayed up and called me this morning bright and early to tell me it had gotten to where it had.”
The card was one of dozens of sports collectibles up for auction. In all, the items raised about $28 million, according to Derek Grady, the executive vice president of sports auctions for Heritage Auctions.
“Sports collectibles are finally getting their due as an investment,” Grady said. “The best sporting goods are now starting to rival works of art, rare coins and rare artifacts as a great investment vehicle.”
The switch-hitting Manto was a Triple Crown winner in 1956, a three-time American League MVP and a seven-time World Series champion. The Hall of Famer died in 1995.
“Some people might say it’s just a baseball card. Who cares? It’s just a Picasso. It’s just a Rembrandt to other people. It’s a work of art to some people,” said John Holden, a professor of sports management law at Oklahoma State and an amateur sports card collector. .
Like works of art that have no intrinsic value, he said, when it comes to sports cards, the value is in the eye of the beholder — or the potential bidder’s pocketbook.
“The value,” Holden said, “is whatever the market is willing to support.”
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How can you tell if a Mickey Mantle rookie card is real?
On the top of the Type Two Mantle, the two edge corners overlap and extend to the side, while on Type One the top left border is almost square, with the top right corner slightly indented. On both of the cards, the bat should be yellow, with those black marks on it.
How can you tell if a Mickey Mantle rookie is real? On the same subject : CBS Sports Top 25 ‘Best in Student Sports’ for 2021-22.
How do you tell if baseball card is a reprint of an original?
A reprint card is one that is created with the sole purpose of being used as a collector‘s item, while fully acknowledging that the card is a reproduction. Sometimes, but not always, a reprint has some text such as “reprint” printed on the card to help distinguish it from the authentic card.
How much is a Mickey Mantle rookie card worth today?
Mantle settled in Dallas after buying a Preston Hollow home in 1958. Read also : Jocelyn Monroe wants to make your dreams come true. Heritage Director Sports Auctions Chris Ivy said he expects the Mantle rookie card to sell for more than $10 million because of the card’s provenance and excellent condition.
How many Babe Ruth cards are there?
Babe Ruth’s 1914 Baltimore News card has long been a coveted item among collectors not only because of the point in Ruth’s career it represents, but also its sheer rarity: Fewer than 10 cards are known to be in existence, with the last known to to have sold for $450,300 at auction in 2013. On the same subject : Introducing: 16 of our favorite sports portraits of Bates from 2021–22 – News.
What is the rarest baseball card? The Holy Grail of baseball cards just set another record. A T-206 Honus Wagner card, known as one of the rarest baseball cards ever printed, sold for $7.25 million in a private sale, auctioneer Goldin Auctions announced Thursday.
How much is Babe Ruth’s rookie card worth?
The card, graded SGC 5.5, the highest SGC graded Ruth rookie, sold for $612,000. 1916 M101-5 Blank Backs Babe Ruth rookie card at Memory Lane Inc. Memory Lane Inc. The most unique item in the auction – a colorful movie banner from the 1927 film “Babe Ruth Comes Home” – was the second highest selling item at $246,000.
How many 1914 Babe Ruth baseball cards are there?
Exactly ten 1914 Babe Ruth rookie cards in total are known to exist. Of these, three are enshrined in one important private collection (one red, one blue, and one back variant) and two in another (one red and one blue).
What Babe Ruth cards are worth money?
10 Most Expensive Babe Ruth Baseball Cards Sold on eBay in Summer 2019
- 1916 W-UNC Big Head Strip Card Babe Ruth. …
- 1932 American Caramel Babe Ruth. …
- 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth (#53) …
- 1922 E120 American Caramel Babe Ruth. …
- 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth (#144) …
- 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth (#181) …
- 1922 E121 American Caramel Babe Ruth Photomontage.
What rookie card sells the most?
| Player | Card | price |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Honus Wagner | T206 SGC 2 | $7.25 Million |
| 2. Honus Wagner | T206 SGC 3 | 6.6 Million USD |
Which sports cards sell the most? Top 10 Most Expensive Sports Cards Sold in 2021
- Tom Brady 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Ticket #144/100 BGS 9 â $3.1 million. …
- Tom Brady Playoff Contenders Championship Rookie Ticket Autograph #144 /100 BGS 8.5 â $2.25 million. …
- LeBron James 2003 Exquisite Collection #78 /99 BGS 9 â $2 million.
What rookie sports cards are worth money?
1. Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps #311 $24,731 – $15.71 million. Topps PSA 10 Mickey Mantle from 1952 is the holy grail rookie card in baseball card collecting. There are only 3 PSA 10s in existence and are estimated to be worth anywhere between $15,000,000 and $30,000,000.
What is the highest selling rookie card?
At $4.3 million, his 2017 Panini National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph Platinum card is the most expensive football card ever sold. It topped the next closest card, which features rookie Tom Brady, by more than $1 million.
How many 1952 Mickey Mantle cards are there?
To learn more about card grading, we have information and a video for you HERE. PSA gave the Mantle rookie card a grade of 1. Despite the low grade, this Mantle card is still VERY desirable. There are only 1,759 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle cards graded in the PSA pop report.
Why is the 1952 Mickey Mantle card worth so much? Why are Mickey Mantle cards so expensive? The biggest reason why these cards are so expensive is that they are rare. The 1952 card is particularly rare because there weren’t that many originally printed, it had an amazing and futuristic design, and it was the first Topps set to feature Mantle’s card.
What is the rarest Mickey Mantle card?
Another Topps Mickey Mantle card from 1952 fetched $5.2 million in January 2021, making it the most expensive sports card ever sold at auction at the time. The upcoming auction could break the current sports card record, held by card T206 Honus Wagner, which sold for $6.6 million in August 2021.
How much is a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card worth?
A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle novelty card hit $5.28 million on the first day of bidding on Monday. At that price, it will already be the second highest price ever paid for a card, surpassing the $5.2 million that entrepreneur Rob Gough paid for the same card in PSA 9 in January 2021.
