1953 Topps Mickey Mantle Card
This classic Mickey Mantle Baseball card is the second one issued by Topps.
The card shows Mickey staring intently over his shoulder. One can see Yankees Stadium in the background. In the corner the proud Yankees emblem sits. The card can sell for almost $3,500. The back of the card features his batting record and fielding record. There is also a brief summary of his playing and career. Near Mint copies of this card sell for as high as $10K, while the rarest of the rare Mint-Mint copies can reach peak values of nearly 1 million dollars. Autographed ’53 Topps Mantle’s can command even more astronomical values at auction. Topps cards from this era are consistent fan and collector’s favorites and the value and demand for them continues to climb every year.
The painted portrait is a trait which adds to this card’s appeal. Photographs were coming into greater use on baseball cards by this time, and the fact that Topps returned to the use of painted pictures enhances its charm. It also provides a certain nostalgia factor to those collectors who are fond of the classic cards of even earlier bygone eras. The trivia section on the back of the card was also a novelty and a departure from the simple table of stats used on many cards of that era and today. The 1953 card built on the popularity of the ‘52 and ‘53 cards and remains one of the most popular Mickey Mantle cards of all time.
Because of the value and popularity of this card, it is another attractive target for counterfeiting. Common fakes or reprints exist on the market and have fooled many collectors. Many forgeries will have a front picture which is drastically enlarged. Mantle’s face will appear closer and larger than on the authentic card. Some counterfeits have even been so brazen as to add chrome of metallic coatings on their fake cards.
The site of anything of this type should be a red flag that the card is a reprint. No chrome coatings or foil type coverings were ever used on cards of this era, they are an invention of much later decades.