A brilliant red frame set dead-center against crisp white borders characterize this fantastic example of Mickey Mantle's 1959 Topps card. An unblemished image and perfectly-centered reverse round out what is clearly a wonderful card. Beneath the surface however is an even more telling story. The explosion in high-grade Hall of Fame cards from the 1950s and 1960s has resulted in a large number of examples flooding the market with collectors hoping to take advantage of the strength of the market for such cards. High-end Mantles Clementes and Aarons populate every public auction making them seem virtually common as if collectors can see them every day. A truly MINT 1959 Topps Mickey Mantle however is anything but "common." Indeed of nearly 5 700 examples of the card that have been graded by PSA less than one-half of one percent - 25 cards in total - have received a grade of MINT 9. Furthermore just one example has graded higher. With NM-MT and MINT Mantles seemingly trading hands on a weekly basis the 1959 Mantle has been notably absent - the last PSA 9 example to sell at public auction appeared than two years ago long before the recent astronomical price increase. One would think that with the market primed for selling more MINT 1959s would have made their way to the hobby but the reality is that there just aren't many in existence. Topps' poor quality control in the era resulted in virtually ubiquitous print flaws centering issues roller lines fish-eyes and miscuts have marred even the sharpest most colorful examples. An example as wonderful as this is a true rarity one of just 25 examples to attain this lofty grade and certainly one of the finest.