- A Mickey Mantle baseball card sold for a record-breaking $12.6 million on Sunday.
- The man who sold the card bought it for $50,000 in 1991, worth around $110,000 today.
A Mickey Mantle baseball card was sold for a whopping $12.6 million on Sunday, according to Heritage Auctions, a Dallas-based auction house.
The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card beat the record for the most expensive sports collectible known to have been sold, eclipsing the $9.3 million sale of $4
Mantle was a $4 member who played 18 seasons for the New York Yankees, where he debuted as a rookie in 1951. He won seven World Series titles and was a three-time American League MVP.
Before Sunday, the largest known sum paid for a baseball card was $6.6 million for a Honus Wagner card in 2021, Heritage Auctions wrote in a $4
—Heritage Auctions Sports (@Heritage_Sport) $4
The Mickey Mantle card was in near-mint condition, a key characteristic that drove up its value. It was rated a Mint+ 9.5 by the Sportscard Guaranty Corporation, Heritage Auctions wrote.
The company said that the card's price point signifies a growing auction market for sports collectibles and memorabilia.
"An eight-figure auction result in the sports market was the stuff of fantasy just a decade ago," Chris Ivy, Heritage's director of sports auctions, said in the release.
Per $4, the man who sold the card, Anthony Giordano, the 75-year-old president of a New Jersey recycling and waste management company, had bought it for $50,000 in 1991 — the equivalent of $4.
He told the outlet that his sons monitored the auction for him after he went to bed and was informed the following morning that the card had been sold for $12.6 million.
Ivy told CBS News that sports collectibles are becoming more lucrative because some buyers have anticipated inflation and saw memorabilia as an alternative to stock investments or real estate.