Baseball

Why the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle NFT Is Challenging the Real Card’s Value

It may seem hard to fathom, but a unique non-fungible token (NFT) of the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle may actually be worth more than at least some of the real 1952 graded examples. It is certainly not an assurance, but the bidding has heated up for a is up for this prime baseball 1-of-1 NFT. The Opensea.io platform has the auction set to end on March 4, 2022 at 1:00 pm EST — barely 22 hours away from this posting time!

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.

Is it possible that a virtual card is worth more than a real card? Yes, and no…

The bidding earlier in the day had been 3.5 WETH, but the new bid of 3.7 WETH now has a dollar value of $10,429.38. That bid had been 2.5358 WETH worth some $7,445.34 just over 24 hours earlier. Unless this gets some heated bidding at the end this will be our last pre-final update. This virtual card (NFT) looks to be in very strong condition in the image, so it can only be compared to a “A” or a “1” graded by PSA or SGC when it comes to pricing.

The 1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle card is one of the faces of cardboard collectibles.  Collectors Dashboard wanted to look at the data behind the NFT itself and its so-called “Pop. 1” status and compare it to the population reports of the real 1952 Topps cards, the prices and the number of real bids.

Some sales of lower grade examples can still be found in the $20,000 to $30,000 range even if those prices are becoming harder to find. There is almost no way to know what the unique NFT of the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle will ultimately sell for at the close of the Opensea.io auction.

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.

After screening out the bids and offers under the $100.00 (USD) mark, and after screening out the duplicate offers (in WETH) there have been 20 bid ratcheting amounts in WETH to get to the 3.7 WETH level — and that is up from 2.5358 WETH worth some $7,445.34 just over 24 hours earlier.

According to Topps:

This 1-of-1 NFT celebrates the classic Topps 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card as a rare digital collectible. The Topps 1952 Mickey Mantle Card continues to be one of the world’s most coveted vintage relics, and now through Topps Timeless, has been reimagined for the digital age. In partnership with the Mantle Estate and Major League Baseball, this NFT cements Mantle’s legacy on the Ethereum blockchain with the first ever licensed MLB NFT to be auctioned on OpenSea. The Topps 1952 Mickey Mantle card displayed in the video NFT is an actual card from the original Topps 1952 release that was digitally scanned and sourced from Topps’ digital archives, specifically to be used in this 1-of-1 NFT.

Along with the NFT’s metadata (terms) are the front and back of an original Topps 1952 Mantle Card, and the Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. The Topps site at the first announcement of the news also said that the winner will have the opportunity to interview Mantle’s sons, Danny and David. The Topps original release said:

Deep within the annals of just a few prized collections comes a coveted vintage relic transformed for the Digital Age. As the Topps 1952 Mickey Mantle Card continues to be one of the world’s most rare collectibles, fans will now have the opportunity to cement Mantle’s legacy on the Ethereum blockchain.

One serious issue that will of course be up for debate is whether or not the winner is really buying it to own the NFT for joy or if the buyer is buying it to keep interest alive in the NFT and digital asset space (yes, that happens!).