This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/11/2020
OK, Mickey Mantle card collectors, circle the date of the auction, put on a pot of coffee and get your bidding finger ready as an opportunity of this magnitude hasn't come along since the 1960s Topps Dice Game find of "The Commerce Comet." A few months ago, cards of Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra were unearthed from the enigmatic 1954 Mascot Dog Food series that created a buzz within the card collecting world. Before this discovery, the only subject known to exist from the series was Robin Roberts, though the back of the card touted a series of eight through a mail-in offer. Then along came Mantle and Berra, with images used from Mantle's rookie season 1951 Wheaties Premium and Berra's 1950 Bowman card. Both cards were low grade, with the Mantle card limited to a 1.5 from Beckett due to a pinhole. And then came the find that made it's way to MHCC. It turns out the collection was not complete at eight as Mantle, Newcombe, and Hodges were later added and the mail-in offer on the back revised to offer a set of 11 cards. Although we've barely scratched the surface of knowing the origins of this mysterious issue, we're fortunate to be offering a wonderful example of The Mick that blows away the only other known specimen. While the grade of PSA 5 is truly impressive, we feel that the grade is an injustice for a card that by all measures deserved a NM assessment if not better. Coming fresh out of the original envelope, along with all of the other Mascot cards in this auction, the sharpness of both the central image and the edges and endpoints are far superior to the grade. As the only examples ever evaluated by PSA, perhaps the lack of exemplars forced the graders to take an ultra-conservative approach in the grading process. Nevertheless, this amazing gem stands as one of only 2 known to exist, and it's clearly the much stronger of the two. If you tried to snag the other one and came up short, here's your chance at redemption with a far superior specimen!