The sports card is the “hobby’s first eight-figure item!”
A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card has become the most valuable sports collectible ever sold at auction.
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Heritage Auctions, the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer, sold the card for $12.6 million.
This surpassed Sotheby’s previous record when it sold Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” football jersey for $9.3 million.
It also became the world’s most valuable sports card before the bidding ended on August 28. Weeks ago, the card had already overtaken the previous record of the T206 Wagner that sold for $6.6 million.
Heritage Auctions director of sports Chris Ivy said an eight-figure bidding result in the sports market was “the stuff of fantasy just a decade ago.” He added: “We always knew this card would shatter records and expectations. But that doesn’t make it any less of a thrill to be part of an auction during which a single item breaks the eight-figure threshold for the first time.”
Sports cards reaching fine art prices?
It happened.
The $12.6 million hammer price for the Mickey Mantle at @HeritageAuction pushed the sports collectibles record to a price range once only realized by art
Let’s review some of the famous works surpassed by Mantle
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“It bears the finest qualities any 1952 Topps can possess: perfect centering, registration, and four sharp corners. That this Mantle rookie card remained in this condition for 70 years is a true miracle,” Ivy concluded.
Banner Photo by Heritage Auctions via website.
