A 1952 Mickey Mantle Topps baseball card is expected to make in excess of $200,000 at Heritage Auctions.

It will cross the block in Chicago on July 30-31.

The vast majority of the Topps baseball cards for the 1952 season were printed too late in the season to be economically viable.

Mickey Mantle played for the New York Yankees from 1951 to 1968

The company decided to cut its losses and dump the majority at sea.  

This led to the Mickey Mantle card becoming the most valuable and sought after post-war American baseball card on the planet.

Heritage comments: "Fortuitously spared from death by drowning, this stunning specimen is outshone by just eleven unqualified representations among the 1,083 examples validated by PSA at the time of this writing.

"Color and registration are perfect, corners are sharp, and not a hint of wax or gum staining is visible. It is, in short, one of the finest relics of the post-war era, a pass right to the front of the line of the hobby's leading bubble gum card enthusiasts."

The record for a Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps card stands at $268,664, set at SCP Auctions in 2014.

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