A $259,910 Difference In Baseball Card Value?

A PSA 5 version of the 1952 Mickey Mantle Topps rookie card recently sold on eBay for $15,090.  As I mentioned in a recent post, a PSA 10 version of this card sold for $275,000.  Quite a difference is card value, no? It’s amazing how much a card’s value can change with the quality of the card. With today’s card, even a slight difference in the quality of the card can make a big difference in it’s grade. By quality I’m referring to the attributes that go into card grading today: corners, centering, surface, etc. Keep in mind that if you’re collecting your cards for value, you really need to keep them in top condition. Make every effort to do so, by putting the cards into soft sleeves right away and not handling the cards too much. It’s certainly tempting to sift through your cards, check out the stats and photos. That’s why you started collecting in the first place, right? Well, you certainly shouldn’t stop doing that altogether as a collector. But make a distinction between which cards you’ll collect for fun, and which cards you’re investing in.