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BBCgalaxee
Well-known member
- Sep 9, 2011
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Pretty sure many of you have heard about mr. mint's find of gem mint 1952 topps cards.
I can't recall reading about it on here so consider this a refresher course or introduction to perhaps the greatest hobby find ever.
Love him or not, "mr. Mint" alan rosen made a name for himself just as the boom started with this monumental discovery.
In the mid 80's, rosen was in the midst of placing full page, eye catching ads in "scd" aka sports collectors digest.
Scd was the most widely read collectibles magazine (paper) in the hobby by both modern & vintage collectors (its still around but like most print, not what it used to be) and rosen was by far the stand out advertiser.
Never bashful, rosen's ads were full of bravado, boasting, etc & like it or not, that drew attention to him as a serious buyer.
Perhaps thats why in 1986, a boston truck driver called him about some cards he found in his late fathers attic.
The seller told rosen that he had a case full of mint baseball cards from 1952 including several mickey mantle's & hundreds of others.
Skeptical, mr. mint nonetheless continues listening knowing that the mantle cards alone were bringing several thousand per back then.
He also knew that if the rest of the cards were indeed in mint condition, that this deal could reach nearly six digits, an unheard of figure back in 1986.
So the two meet In boston & mr. mint couldn't believe the condition & quantity of the cards. Indeed, the cards were mint & there were tons of them, about 50 of every card including the mantle!
So the deal went down for 80,000, a pretty nice find for the seller, rosen & the hobby.
Its hard to imagine now, but back then, rosen had some doubts about the buy, even wondering if it was possible to sell it all.
Believe it or not, I remember reading that he actually had problems selling all the mint mantle cards & eventually had to discount them just to move them.
All in all, he cleared about a quarter of a million in profit.
Had he held them for a few years later, he would have cleared much more.
Imagine if this type of find happened today, there would be worth millions of dollars.
The importance of this find can't be measured.
It put the hobby on the map, drew national media attention, brought in untold amount of collectors & helped "blow up" our hobby.
The "black swamp" find from last year "might" be worth more, but it will not do nearly as much for this hobby as what the "1952" find did.
I can't recall reading about it on here so consider this a refresher course or introduction to perhaps the greatest hobby find ever.
Love him or not, "mr. Mint" alan rosen made a name for himself just as the boom started with this monumental discovery.
In the mid 80's, rosen was in the midst of placing full page, eye catching ads in "scd" aka sports collectors digest.
Scd was the most widely read collectibles magazine (paper) in the hobby by both modern & vintage collectors (its still around but like most print, not what it used to be) and rosen was by far the stand out advertiser.
Never bashful, rosen's ads were full of bravado, boasting, etc & like it or not, that drew attention to him as a serious buyer.
Perhaps thats why in 1986, a boston truck driver called him about some cards he found in his late fathers attic.
The seller told rosen that he had a case full of mint baseball cards from 1952 including several mickey mantle's & hundreds of others.
Skeptical, mr. mint nonetheless continues listening knowing that the mantle cards alone were bringing several thousand per back then.
He also knew that if the rest of the cards were indeed in mint condition, that this deal could reach nearly six digits, an unheard of figure back in 1986.
So the two meet In boston & mr. mint couldn't believe the condition & quantity of the cards. Indeed, the cards were mint & there were tons of them, about 50 of every card including the mantle!
So the deal went down for 80,000, a pretty nice find for the seller, rosen & the hobby.
Its hard to imagine now, but back then, rosen had some doubts about the buy, even wondering if it was possible to sell it all.
Believe it or not, I remember reading that he actually had problems selling all the mint mantle cards & eventually had to discount them just to move them.
All in all, he cleared about a quarter of a million in profit.
Had he held them for a few years later, he would have cleared much more.
Imagine if this type of find happened today, there would be worth millions of dollars.
The importance of this find can't be measured.
It put the hobby on the map, drew national media attention, brought in untold amount of collectors & helped "blow up" our hobby.
The "black swamp" find from last year "might" be worth more, but it will not do nearly as much for this hobby as what the "1952" find did.
