We are proud to offer the true "rookie card" of Yankee Hall of Fame outfielder Mickey Mantle in our inaugural auction. This is a lovely collector-grade example with a clean surface but two soft corners and weaker centering bring it below EX condition. Still it would be difficult to find a 4 that is nicer than this.The 1952 Topps Mantle is an iconic card; the most valuable Mantle called his "rookie" card so frequently that SGC actually notates the card as such on their grading labels. The classic 1952 Topps design largely credited with ushering the modern card collecting hobby into the mainstream is a big reason for the card"s popularity. The scarcity of the "high number" series in the "52 set along with the legend of cases of unsold second series cards being unceremoniously dumped into the ocean is another. Postwar collectors frequently bemoan the idea of cases of "52 Mantles disintegrating in saltwater at the bottom of an ocean somewhere. If they could only go back in time!And yet an examination of grading company population reports might change one"s mind about the relative scarcity of the two cards. PSA and SGC have graded 1 677 copies of the 1951 Bowman Mantle. The "scarce" 1952? They"ve graded 1 372. Not much of a difference relatively speaking and certainly neither card could be considered "scarce" by the standards of some of the other items featured in this auction.A "52 Mantle in VG-EX condition is likely to bring $10 000 or more at auction; the perception of scarcity coupled with the iconic nature of the card has made it one of the key cards in the hobby. The "51 Mantle however is his true "rookie card " issued a year earlier than its Topps counterpart. Like the "52 version the "51 is part of the tougher-to-find second series. And the image is even today one of the most attractive Mantle images on a baseball card (much like the rest of the "51 Bowman set which remains one of the most beautiful postwar baseball card issues).Many colle