Mickey Mantle is back to breaking records.
A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card was recently sold with Heritage Auctions for $12.6 million, including buyer’s premium, making it the most expensive sports item — card or memorabilia — ever sold.
The previous record for most expensive memorabilia was a game-worn Diego Maradona jersey from “The Hand of God” game that sold for $9.3 million in May. The most expensive card had been a Honus Wagner card that was sold for $7.25 million in August.
The Mantle card, from his rookie season, had a 9.5 grade, which is classified as “gem-mint” and falling just shy of the highest grade a card can receive, which is a 10, making it near perfect condition.
Per The Action Network, the card comes from the first set Topps made to promote its chewing gum and was originally bought in 1985 by card buyer/seller Alan Rosen for $1,000 who flipped it a year later for $3,500.
Rosen bought it back in 1991 for $40,000 before flipping it again to Yankees fan Anthony Giordano for $50,000, who gave it to Heritage to be sold.
“This card is arguably the finest-condition example of the most iconic post-war card in the world,” Chris Ivy, Heritage’s director of sports auctions, said in a statement, per ESPN. “That grade, plus the fact it has documented provenance from the most storied find in hobby history, puts this card in a category of its own.”
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