Though Mickey Mantle’s most famous card is his 1952 Topps, it was the 1951 Bowman set that brought collectors his rookie card.
An uncut sheet from that set, including a copy of Mantle’s rookie card, sold for $252,000, includling buyer's premium, at Collect Auctions Thursday.
More than 4,000 copies of the card have been graded across all major graders. But this is the only such uncut sheet from the set including the Mantle rookie known to exist, according to the auction house.
Uncut sheets from the 1951 set are exceptionally rare, even without the Mantle. This 36-card sheet includes half of the set’s high-numbered series running from No. 253 to 288 (Mantle is No. 253).
The Mantle has “only the tiniest of wrinkles,” according to the auction house, which it says was discovered by touch rather than visibility.
The record sale of a 1951 Bowman Mantle is $3.19 million for one of the nine PSA 9 examples.
Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick owns the lone PSA 10.
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Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.