This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/2/2022
Every advanced collector worships the 1952 Topps card of Mickey Mantle as the most important post-war issue ever produced. But a true hobby traditionalist gives just as much weight, maybe more, to the 1951 Bowman example of "The Commerce Comet", his true rookie card. Like the '52 Topps counterpart, the artist's image of the 1951 Bowman card is etched into the memory of every advanced collector, his horizontally formatted image created from an actual photo and set against a spacious partly cloudy sky. In 1951, Mantle was called up to the show after being discovered by Casey Stengel, who noted that he had more natural power than any player he had ever seen. Joe DiMaggio also called him the greatest prospect in the game. Mantle hit 13 homers and had a .267 batting average in 341 at-bats his rookie year, not exactly disastrous, but also not up to the unreasonable expectations of stepping into the outfield as a rookie and immediately picking up where "Joltin' Joe" left off. The example offered here features predominantly accurate centering for the issue, just maybe a few degrees toward the horizontal right side, as well as a noticeably potent central image. There is hardly any trace of the blurring effect around the periphery of the subject, so common to the issue. Combined with corners that meet or slightly exceed the NM grade and finished off with a gentle but still shimmering touch of factory gloss on the front, is one of the finer examples of Mickey Mantle's 1951 Bowman rookie card that we've seen at the advanced grade of PSA 7.