A 1955 Mickey Mantle baseball card is going for $50,000 or more after it was found in a blind bubblegum card draw at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland on Friday, according to ESPN.
Vintage Breaks gave collectors a chance to buy unopened packs of vintage cards for $500 each, gambling that there could be a valuable card inside. Chris Rothe, a bookbinder and collector in Maryland, would only learn later watching a video archive of the pack opening that the one he purchased had the Mantle card – in pristine condition, the sports network said.
"My friend told me my face went pale white when I saw it," Rothe told ESPN, telling the network he intends to sell the card. "I was weak in the knees."
Leighton Sheldon, owner of Vintage Breaks, had the Mantle Bowman bubblegum card graded by PSA, considered the industry's authority on the condition of cards, and was given a grade of 9 out of 10, ESPN reported. By Saturday, Sheldon offered $50,000 for the card, the network said.
The Washington Post reported that Rothe owns several Mantle cards among his collection of 100 vintage cards and said the PSA score surprised him.
"It is so funny that of course of all players — past, present — it happens to be Mickey Mantle," Rothe, 36, told the Post. "I'm from Baltimore, lived here my entire life, so of course for better or worse, the Orioles are near and dear to my heart. But growing up as a kid — Mickey Mantle was my favorite. It's something about the Mick. He was the greatest."
Rothe told the Post he will likely sell the Mantle card and maybe buy the rookie year of the late Pittsburgh Pirates great Roberto Clemente.
Sheldon told the Post that his company had earlier cut into a 1986 case of Fleer basketball card packs after selling shares to collectors at $2,000 each and found a Michael Jordan rookie card valued at $5,000 or more.
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