We went the extra mile to get our consignor almost $12,000 US for this Mickey Mantle Card

We’ve all secretly dreamed of finding a rare Mickey Mantle card at a garage sale or stumbling upon a valuable collectible in an attic. Those stories make for great reads but happen about as often as a Canadian team winning the Stanley Cup. Well…break out the champaign and polish up the trophy because we have a winner for you! Several months ago, we were contacted by a family member whose father had passed away and left him his baseball card collection. The gentleman did not know what to do with the cards. After visiting a few shops and attending a show in his area, (he lived in a different Province), he did not feel comfortable with any of the offers he received. He also did not have the time required to sell the cards himself online. After a few initial emails and a follow up phone call, he decided to sell the collection to us. A short time later we heard from him again with some more news. After going through more of his late father’s things, he discovered another baseball card in the middle of an old book. This was not just any card…it was the iconic 1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle card. Given the casual placement of the card, I assume his dad was not a Yankees fan! At some point, scissors were taken to this card to remove a portion of it, and several punch holes were added for good measure. Due to the value of this particular card, and the poor condition it was in, we mutually decided we would sell this card on consignment for the family. When we received it, it was worse than we thought! It was truly a mess! In order to try to maximize the value/return for the family, we decided we had to get this card professionally graded so buyers would have confidence that they were bidding on a real ’52 Mantle! As we started the process however, we were met with several road blocks by the grading companies. Each one we contacted refused to authenticate the card! Finally, we reached out to the last grading company on our list. A new entity in the marketplace, CSG (Certified Sports Guaranty). A division of CGC, a well known and respected company in the comic book world, CSG are relative rookies in the sports card grading game. We sent detailed emails and photos of the card to them and they agreed to authenticate the card! Once we got it back from CSG, we put the card up for auction on eBay on behalf of the family. We are very happy to say, this card sold for $11,877.77 US. A record price for a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card in the CSG Authentic Altered grade! After the auction was over and we paid out the consignor, he took the time to write the following letter of testimony about his experience dealing with AA Sports Cards.

From Jim K.

I recently completed a vintage baseball card consignment with AA Sports Cards.  I was very impressed with the entire experience, including the final outcome. The only effort on my part was to send the cards to them and they took care of the rest, keeping me well informed along the way.  Through their knowledge and expertise Mike and Dave worked hard to authenticate the card allowing it to reach the best price possible for the condition it was in.   The final price far exceeded my expectations.  

I highly recommend AA Sports Cards to anyone that wants to sell cards without any hassles.  I would not hesitate to use them again in the future.

Thanks Mike and Dave.

All the Best, 
Jim K.