It seems hard to imagine that a virtual card is worth more than a real card, but that is what we are seeing with the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Card NFT that is up for auction on the OpenSea.io platform. The last bid was seen at 10 WETH and that translates to $27,481.20 based on current ether prices. What was interesting about this bidding is that the last bid jumped from 8.5 WETH to 10 WETH and the time remaining is still just over 4 hours.

Collectors Dashboard evaluates collectibles as an alternative asset class. The same capital used to buy a 1952 Topps Mantle could just have easily, or more easily, been invested into stocks and bonds. And for the NFT route, we have always maintained that people should be able to collect what they want and how they want.

Here is how the NFT is worth more than an actual card, even if this is not a classical apples-to-apples argument. Some sales of lower grade examples can still be found in the $20,000 to $30,000 range. It is true that those prices are becoming harder to find. It is also true that the unique “Pop. 1” NFT of the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle is represented in nearly pristine condition — but it is a digital card.

What about a “Pop. 1” versus PSA, SGC and BVG graded examples?

• PSA has graded a combined total of 1,817 examples of this card.
• SGC’s population reports show that 572 graded examples exist.
• Beckett’s BVG graded population is just 177 examples.

Collectors Dashboard screened out the bids and offers under the $100.00 (USD) mark. We also eliminated the matching WETH offers that would have changed because of the conversion to dollars prices to avoid duplicate bidding. That means we are only counting the upticks rather than the full bids and only above the $100.00 conversion rate because it was never going to trade down that low. There have been 25 incremental upticks in the bidding above $100 and that is still with 4 hours to go.

UPDATE: The final sales price was 175 ETH ($470,711.50 USD), and what is so amazing about that price is that this is within range of what a PSA 7 or PSA 8 example of the real card might fetch.

Some people in #TheHobby do not like NFTs. What needs to be understood is that people will collect what they want to collect AND how they collect those items. And right now a virtual 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle is on the verge of being worth more than many of the “!” and “Authentic” graded 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle cards that you can actually hold in your hand.

Oh, and with this one you get to interview Mickey Mantle’s kids to boot.

You can expect that if this auction price goes much higher, this model will be duplicated over and over by Topps and Fanatics. And those 1-of-1 offers may become much larger.