This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/7/2009
Incredibly clean and bold! An unusually presentable example for the grade! Offered is a PSA 3 VG copy of Mickey Mantle's famous 1952 Topps issue that presents an incredibly pleasing array of high-grade qualities balanced by some hardly perceptible technical concerns for a final grade that bears almost no relevancy whatsoever to the extreme beauty of this scarce classic and perennial favorite. The tolerable centering reveals a typical bias for the southeast corner and can only be called NM, at best. Each of the EX/MT edges display at least one touch of welcomed and reassuring wear (indeed, the last thing the detail-oriented, low to mid-grade 1952 Topps Mantle buyer wants to see is a seeming perfect edge). The corners, for their part, show a balanced and uniform mix of VG/EX to VG/EX+ and even EX wear, with no major chunks of enamel loss. The reverse boasts a perfect cleanliness throughout, while the brilliant obverse, on first glance, shows just a few nominal wisps of wear from stacking but is otherwise intensely clean and bold for the grade of VG. In addition, the registration appears essentially perfect, with perhaps a bit of a pronounced print impression evident in the deep skin tones of Mick's face and hands as well as in the bold aquamarine of the backdrop. Upon extremely close examination, however, the front surface does reveal a trace of extremely minor wrinkling across the top left border as well as some even less perceptible surface indentations, while the reverse shows another minor wrinkle along the extreme bottom right corner. These hardly perceptible technical concerns combine to limit what appears to be a solid VG/EX to EX example (with several EX/MT to NM features) to an extremely conservative grade of VG 3 from PSA. A perfectly ideal collection pieces, we've never seen a more presentable copy in the grade!