Mint 1952 Mickey Mantle Topps Card Shatters Auction Record as Most Expensive Ever Sold

Ryan Parker
·2-min read
The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card from the collection of Marshall Fogel arrives at McGregor Square's Rally Hotel. The card is graded PSA 10 Gem Mint and will be displayed as part of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game's Hall of Legends exhibit in Denver, CO.
The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card from the collection of Marshall Fogel arrives at McGregor Square's Rally Hotel. The card is graded PSA 10 Gem Mint and will be displayed as part of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game's Hall of Legends exhibit in Denver, CO.

Matt Dirksen/Colorado Rockies/Getty

A highly sought-after and extremely rare mint condition Mickey Mantle baseball card shattered a record on Saturday night when it became the most expensive card ever to be auctioned.

Featuring one of baseball's most beloved and celebrated legends, the 1952 card, displaying the face and status of the iconic Hall of Fame New York Yankee, sold for a total of $12.6 million.

The winning bid included the buyer's premium — 20 percent of a successful bid. The previous record for the most expensive collecting card sold was a 1909 Honus Wagner one, which fetched $6.6 million.

Offered through Heritage Auctions, the already rare Mantle card was graded an astonishing 9.5, making it the holy grail for collectors with (extremely) deep pockets.

RELATED: Rare Mickey Mantle Baseball Card Sells for Record $5.2 Million

American baseball player Mickey Mantle (1931 - 1995), of the New York Yankees, at Yankee Stadium, New York, September 1962.
American baseball player Mickey Mantle (1931 - 1995), of the New York Yankees, at Yankee Stadium, New York, September 1962.

Bettmann Archive/Getty

"Every time he got up to the plate, the crowd would go crazy, the roars would be there. And he never disappointed you. … He had that aura about him," card owner Anthony Giordano told ESPN of Mantle. "Whether you're from the New York area or not, or a Yankees fan, it was always Mickey Mantle that was highlighted."

The sale of this particular Mantle card garnered so much attention that Heritage Auctions said on the bidding page that the card was getting the documentary treatment.

RELATED: Rare 1909 Honus Wagner Baseball Card Fetches $1.2 Million in Private Sale

"We are thrilled to announce that two-time Emmy Award-winning director and producer Dan Klein is currently working on a documentary film about this history-making 1952 Topps Mantle card with the working title Four Perfect Corners," a statement read.

Mantle — who spent his entire career with the New York Yankees from 1951 to 1968, where he was a seven-time World Series champion — died in 1995. He participated in Ken Burns' 1994 iconic documentary Baseball, in which he shared fascinating insight into his career and the nearly unbearable pain from injury he played through.

In January 2021, a similar Mantle card graded a 9/10 sold for $5.2 million to actor and entrepreneur Rob Gough, ESPN reported.

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