Easily the most important baseball card of the postwar era, the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle is the whole package: one of the most popular players from the most popular team, issued during the Golden Age of collecting in Topps' landmark set, the key card in the more scarce high-number series issued at the very beginning of the Hall of Famer's career. It is no wonder then that card #311 from this set is one of the most highly regarded and widely sought after cards in the hobby. Of course the penchant of 1950s youngsters to flip trade and handle their baseball cards (the way they were intended to be) has resulted in '52 Mantles in a variety of conditions, with many beaten beyond recognition. Due to the card's incredible value, it is common to see examples in every conceivable condition at the lower end of the grade scale, but in actuality very few of them boast any type of exceptional eye appeal. The result is a large number of collectors seeking out a '52 Mantle with a quality image but a lower technical grade.

Well look no further.  Presented is a truly exceptional '52 Mantle, graded FAIR 1.5 by PSA, but with many of the attributes of a higher-grade card. The image quality and color are sharp and vivid, the richness of the blue sky behind Mantle's portrait largely unblemished.  Centering is nearly perfect, with a barely perceptible tilt.  Borders are largely clean, with a tiny bit of soiling along the bottom edge, and corner wear more consistent with a VG card.  The primary flaw is a series of heavy creases at the top left corner, extending diagonally from the left edge to the top center, above Mantle's cap.  Along with the creasing is a spot of paper loss, plainly visible but largely confined to the top border.  Some very light wrinkling is visible elsewhere upon very close examination, but the grade, though technically accurate, does not effectively describe the beauty of this card. In a sea of off-grade examples, high-quality collector grade 1952 Topps Mantles are not easy to find. This example is as fine a specimen within this grade level as we have seen.