(LOT 8)
1957 Topps #95 Mickey Mantle PSA 9 MINT - Only ONE PSA Example Graded Higher!
1957 MICKEY GEM!!! Any card of the great HOF Yankee center fielder, Mickey Mantle, is considered a bona fide collectible in the baseball card circuit, with his incredibly hot 1952 Topps Rookie card paving the way for The Mick's other 1950s cardboard gems. Mantle's HOF credentials are seemingly countless including 536 home runs, 3 MVPs, 12 Pennants, 7 World series victories, a record for World Series Home Runs (18), and a Triple Crown season in 1956. Following that Cinderella '56 campaign in which the Yankees also reclaimed the world championship, Topps issued one of The Mick's most popular cards in 1957, with one of this issue's most breathtaking specimens presented here in a miraculous PSA MINT 9 holder.

Consider that of the nearly 7,300 encapsulated copies, only 22 or 0.3% of those specimens have achieved the sanctified 9 assessment with a SOLE copy graded higher! Indeed, only a single 1957 Topps PSA encapsulated #95 Mantle subject has ever achieved a GEM MINT 10 grade, substantiating the utmost significance of finding an extremely obscure Mint 9 example. The phrase "a sure thing" is seldom used in today's society. Yet, high-grade Mantle cards continue to escalate in value at a nearly alarming rate, once again substantiating the accepted notion that the Commerce Comet continues to be the foundation of the post-WWII card market (a PSA Mint 9 '57 Topps Mantle fetched $84K last year). However Mantle secured this concept is still a mystery.

Was it the mystique of his 1952 Topps rookie card, being the great Joe DiMaggio's successor or how about his long tape measure home runs? Whatever the reason, his cards hold a special place next to the great turn of the century players such as Cobb, Wagner, Mathewson and Ruth, and this 1957 museum quality example just happens to be one of Mantle's finest. The card itself is magnificent in all aspects of condition sensitivity. Let's start with the super defined contrast of the classic Mantle batting image as he possibly clouts another one of his majestic long balls wearing the classic Yankee pinstripes. Atypical for virtually all '57 Topps Mantles, the hallowed image exhibits near-perfect centering, with only a negligible tilt ever-so-slightly favoring the upper right corner.

As most hobbyists surely realize, a majority of the '57 Topps Mantle's exhibit skewed images, and it is an excruciating chore to find any example revealing a well-positioned image, let alone of the premier specimens on the planet. Blinding white borders lead to a razor-sharp perimeter, bolstered by four right-angled corners. No glaring surface blemishes are evident, the sheer gloss is completely intact, and the verso's red and blue typography reflects bold and vivid registration. Justifying the amazing prestige of a high-grade '57 Topps Mantle is the impressive $210K pricing point realized by Memory Lane Auctions last Fall. That said, this grand offering represents one of the finest '57 Mantle subjects extant, immaculately preserved for 65 years in its original pack-fresh condition!

MIN BID $50,000
_