A mint condition Mickey Mantle baseball card has sold for $12.6 million, blasting into the record books Sunday as the most expensive ever paid for a piece of sports memorabilia.
FILE - A Mickey Mantle baseball card is displayed at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, on July 21, 2022. A mint condition Mickey Mantle baseball card has sold for $12.6 million, blasting into the record books Sunday Aug. 28, 2022 as the most expensive ever paid for a piece of sports memorabilia. A mint condition Mickey Mantle baseball card sold for $12.
Because of its near-perfect condition and its legendary subject, the Mantle card was destined to be a top seller, said Chris Ivy, the director of sports auctions at Heritage Auctions, which ran the bidding. “There’s only so much Netflix and ‘Tiger King’ people could watch . So, you know, they were getting back into hobbies, and clearly sports collecting was a part of that,” said Ivy, who noted an uptick in calls among potential sellers.
Before the pandemic, the sports memorabilia market was estimated at more than $5.4 billion, according to a 2018 Forbes interview with David Yoken, the founder of Collectable.com. That lure of making money on something that might be sitting in one's childhood basement has been irresistible, according to Stephen Fishler, founder of ComicConnect, who has watched the growing rise — and profitability — of collectibles being traded across auction houses.The Mantle baseball card dates from 1952 and is widely regarded as one of just a handful of the baseball legend in near-perfect condition.
The card was one of dozens of sports collectibles up for auction. In all, the items raked in some $28 million, according to Derek Grady, the executive vice president of sports auctions for Heritage Auctions.
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Mickey Mantle card sold for $12.6 million at auction, breaks recordA mint condition Mickey Mantle baseball card has sold for $12.6 million, blasting into the record books Sunday as the most expensive ever paid for a piece of sports memorabilia.
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