Auction Highlights

Recently Sold:

⚾ A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 SGC NM 84 (near mint being a 7) sold for $369,000 (REA) on December 7, 2025, the first sale at this grade since August of 2024, and that card went for $366,000 at a Goldin auction (per Vintage Card Prices).

⚾ A 1953 Topps Mickey Mantle #82 PSA 5.5 closed at $8,344.85 (The Collector Connection), a drop of just over 7% from the previous PSA 5.5 sale on May 31, 2025, a Best Offer of $9,000 (per Vintage Card Prices).

🏀 A 1981-82 Topps Basketball Unopened 36-Count Wax Box (certified by BBCE) came in at $4,520.10 (Lelands) on December 6. According to 130point, this follows a similarly priced sale on eBay of a BBCE box on October 7, 2025, for $4,400. When they originally came out more than 40 years ago, each pack would’ve cost 30 cents.

News Briefs

💰️ Sports Cards vs. Pokemon Cards: What’s the Better Investment?

⚾ A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle PSA 8 Is Being Auctioned: $1.5 Million?

⚾ The Best Vintage Baseball Cards Under $10,000

⚾ New MLB Network Show About Cards: Pack in Time

⚾ Profiling the 1969 Milton Bradley Board Game and Card Set (A Personal Fave)

Vintage HOF Rookie Card: Dave Parker

Known as “The Cobra,” Dave Parker was one of the more dangerous hitters in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s who was also a great fielder with a powerful arm.

Dave Parker - RF

HOF Induction in 2025 - Named on 14 out of 16 Classic Era Committee ballots (87.5%)

Standout Stats:

• 7-time All-Star

• All-Star MVP and regular season co-MVP, both in 1979

• 3-time Silver Slugger and 3-time Gold Glove award winner

• Back-to-back batting champ (1977-78)

• Career WAR - 40.1

These sales were split pretty evenly, with four auctions, four via Best Offer, and two via Fixed Price (including the one at $225). The average price came out to be $125.87.

Hobby Thoughts: 1960s Collector Grade Rookies

Let’s look at collector grade cards again, this time with baseball Hall of Fame rookie cards from the 1960s. After defining affordable as $100 or less for the 1970s, I’ll up it to $150 or less for the ‘60s, with each price based on the average of the last three sales.

Prior to tabulating, like with the ‘70s baseball cards, I’ll again guess that more than 50% of the cards fall into the “affordable” category.

And here are the results (data via Vintage Card Prices):

So clearly I underestimated the strength of the 1960s rookie class, thinking that players like Phil Niekro, Tony Oliva, Gaylord Perry and Tony Perez might fall under the $150 threshold. Instead, only nine cards did, meaning 36% are considered affordable, according to my initial estimate. That said, 13 cards under $200 for HOF rookie cards still isn’t too bad. Meanwhile, Joe Morgan continues to be criminally underpriced as one of the greatest second basemen in MLB history.

As has happened in previous research, the highest-priced cards pull the average price of all the cards up a bit, with the average for all 25 cards coming in at $398.15.

What about the results surprised you?