April 5, 2018: Sports & Americana Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/5/2018
The Topps Co. commemorated the tragic passing of their most famous pasteboard subject, Mickey Mantle, with a unique program of reprinting almost all of his cards from his playing career and inserting them with the distribution of the company’s 1996 mainstream issue. The program was an immediate sensation with collectors of all ages, and was followed up in later years by additional Mantle cards and the career Topps curriculum from the likes of Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Nolan Ryan and others. Presented here is a special production issue from that popular 1996 offering, a pristine 90-card uncut sheet that Topps officials specially framed for presentation to corporate partners. An attractive 28 ½-by-41-inch frame displays the sheet to fine effect, protected under Plexiglass, with a 5 ½-by-3/4-inch engraved nameplate at the bottom noting “Presented by the Topps Company” and including the name of a corporate partner. The uncut sheet features Mantle’s 16 original Topps cards from 1951-69, plus his 1951, 1954 and 1955 Bowmans. At a total of 90 cards, the card includes five cards each from Mantle’s three Bowman years and Topps years from 1951-64; four cards each are printed from the final five years of Topps cards. Sheet and framing appear to be in pristine, as-issued condition.
1996 Topps Mickey Mantle Inserts Framed Uncut Sheet
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