19552

HSC: 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle #253 GAI NM-MT+ 8.

Currency:USD Category:Sports - Cards & Fan Shop / Sports - Cards Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:15,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD
HSC: 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle #253 GAI NM-MT+ 8.
<B>1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle #253 GAI NM-MT+ 8.5.</B></I> "Mickey is the Yankee rookie of whom so much is expected in 1951," begins the text on the verso of the Yankee legend's '51 Bowman card. How's that for understatement? Though the Mick offered only a glimpse of his future greatness that turbulent first year, his subsequent seventeen left no doubt that the money spent on sending scouts out to Joplin in 1950 was a sound investment. And the same could certainly be said of money spent to acquire this paramount example of Mantle's true rookie, one of the finest representations to reach the auction block in recent memory. The scarcity of this card in general, buried in the unpopular final series of Bowman's 1951 print run, means that collectors are quick to scramble for even the most marginal specimen, but this top-tier example is for the true collecting elite. Based purely upon eye appeal, this card has no equal, not even from those rare few cards that have topped it in the population reports. Registration, so often a problem with this issue, is flawless here, and the coloring is bold and dark. Blazing white borders turn at razor-sharp corners. Only the 60/40 left/right centering, though superior to the vast majority of Bowmans from this issue, lowers this card ever so slightly from the absolute peak of perfection. A very minor wax stain on the verso has the similar effect, though again the condition of the back is leaps and bounds better than the bulk of others from this issue. Of course, there will be many who justifiably celebrate these miniscule imperfections, as the card would command perhaps $50,000 at auction in their absence.