‘HOLY GRAIL OF SPORTS CARDS’ SHOWCASED TO U.S. PUBLIC.

1952 Mantle considered rare for its grading

DENVER• The“Holy Grail” of baseball cards, a pristine 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle valued at several million dollars, has been delivered to the History Colorado Center via armoured truck for a 72-hour public display.

“I want the community to enjoy looking at the card,” said its owner, retired lawyer Marshall Fogel of Den- ver. “It’s the finest card ever made, and it just happens to be my favourite player, Mickey Mantle.”

The cardboard treasure was transported Monday from a bank’s safe deposit vault and placed in a secure case that once housed Thomas Jefferson’s Bible, with Uvlens protection and temperature/humidity control.

The card, which Fogel said was insured for $12 million “and is probably worth more than that,” is being displayed in the lobby of the museum where its current exhibition, “Play Ball!” features Fogel’s collection of classic baseball artifacts.

Mike Fruitman, a sports card expert in Aurora, Colo., said Fogel’s ’52 Mantle card is at least on par with the 1909 Honus Wagner T206 card whose rarity is attributed to Wagner’s supposed disapproval of the card being sold along with tobacco.

One reason Mantle’s 1952 card is so rare is that so many of them were returned along with other unsold cards by retailers making room for the 1953 cards. The returned ’52 cards were subsequently sunk from a barge in the Hudson River.

Fogel’s card is a gem mint PSA 10, one of only three ’52 Mantle cards in existence with this rating. Of the three, Fogel’s card is the only “perfect 10,” what’s known in the collecting world as an Aplus. The other two are As.

“So, yes it’s the Holy Grail of sports cards,” Fruitman said. “Mickey Mantle was exceedingly more popular than Wagner. But each has a romantic backstory about them.”

Fogel paid $120,000 for the card in 1996 and he figures it’s now worth 100 times that.

“People said I was stupid to buy it,” Fogel told the AP. “Now, I’m wisely eccentric.”

Unlike the “Play Ball!” exhibit, which is running through the baseball season, the Mantle card will only be on display for the All-star break. Jason Hanson, the museum’s chief creative officer and lead curator of the exhibit, said there are many reasons for that but primarily because no one wants the brilliant colours from the 66-year-old baseball card to fade under the lights.

DAVID ZALUBOWSKI / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS This 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, which was put on display as part of baseball memorabilia exhibit at the Colorado History Museum on Monday, is owned by Denver lawyer Marshall Fogell and valued at several million dollars.