What is the 1952 Topps Mantle price in low grade? Heritage's Fall Sports Card Catalog Auction ran September 18-19, 2026, and seven copies of the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 sold there. The PostWarCards newsletter reported prices from $43,920 for an SGC Authentic to $172,266.44 for a PSA 3. Graded 2s sold for $85,400 to $94,550.
Seven copies of the same card in one catalog is unusual. They give a clearer picture of what a collector-grade 1952 Mantle costs than any single record sale. This is Heritage auction #50090, and its preview listed a PSA VG 3 copy among the lots. PostWarCards #390 counted seven 1952 Topps Mantles in the sale, not counting the Mantle inside a 1952 Topps set that sold in the same auction. The newsletter reported that set at $463,600.
Keep one caveat in mind as you read. Every price below is a single sale. The gaps between grades and between grading companies are one data point each. They show how this auction went. They are not a rule.
The price ladder
These are the seven prices as reported by PostWarCards, from highest to lowest:
| Grader | Grade | Reported price | | --- | --- | --- | | PSA | 3 | $172,266.44 | | PSA | 3 | $141,766.44 | | SGC | 2.5 | $113,645.44 | | PSA | 2 | $94,550 | | SGC | 2 | $85,400 | | PSA | Authentic | $70,150 | | SGC | Authentic | $43,920 |
By our arithmetic, the seven add up to about $721,698, and the top price is about 3.9 times the bottom one. The newsletter said the order was roughly what most people would have expected. It also remarked on how liquid these cards are for how much they cost. Seven copies selling in a single catalog supports that point.
Grade steps: what each jump cost
Here is what each step up in grade cost within the same company, based on these single sales:
PSA
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Authentic ($70,150) to PSA 2 ($94,550): +$24,400, about +35%
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PSA 2 to the lower PSA 3 ($141,766): +$47,216, about +50%
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PSA 2 to the higher PSA 3 ($172,266): +$77,716, about +82%
SGC
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Authentic ($43,920) to SGC 2 ($85,400): +$41,480, about +94%
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SGC 2 to SGC 2.5 ($113,645): +$28,245, about +33%
At SGC, the biggest percentage jump came between Authentic and a numeric grade: the SGC 2 sold for nearly double the SGC Authentic. At PSA, the biggest jump came between 2 and 3. If you own an Authentic copy, or are thinking about buying one, the SGC pair shows how much the market paid in this sale for a numeric grade on the label.
Same grade, different copy
The two PSA 3s sold $30,500 apart, so the higher one brought about 21.5% more than the lower one. That gap is larger than the dollar step from PSA Authentic to PSA 2 ($24,400) and larger than the step from SGC 2 to SGC 2.5 ($28,245).
We don't know why these two copies differed, and we won't guess. In general, cards with the same number on the slab can still differ in centering, eye appeal, surface, and print quality, and bidders pay for those differences. For a buyer, the practical point is that "PSA 3" gives you a range, not a price. Compare a specific copy against sold copies you can actually see, not against the grade average.
PSA vs SGC in this sale
The grading company changed the price at both grades where PSA and SGC copies can be compared directly:
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Grade 2: the PSA 2 ($94,550) beat the SGC 2 ($85,400) by $9,150, about 10.7%.
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Authentic: the PSA Authentic ($70,150) beat the SGC Authentic ($43,920) by $26,230, about 59.7%.
The PSA premium was much wider at Authentic than at grade 2. The half grade also counted: the SGC 2.5 ($113,645) sold for about $19,095 more than the PSA 2, roughly 20% by our arithmetic. In this sale, being half a grade higher was worth more than PSA's premium.
For comps, that means a bare grade is the wrong search. Filter sold prices by grading company and grade together. If you use a PSA 2 result to value an SGC 2, or a PSA Authentic result to value an SGC Authentic, the pairs above suggest you could be off by a lot.
What "Authentic" means for a budget buyer
An Authentic label means the grader confirmed the card is genuine but gave it no numeric grade. At this sale, the two Authentic copies ($43,920 and $70,150) were the cheapest ways into the card. Before you buy one, ask why it did not get a number and look closely at the card itself. The label tells you the card is real. It does not describe its condition the way a number does.
The SGC-to-PSA gap at this level is also the widest in the sample. A buyer who is comfortable with an SGC Authentic paid about $26,000 less than the PSA Authentic buyer in this auction. Whether that discount holds up when you sell depends on who is bidding at that time, and one pair of sales cannot tell you that.
Type 1 vs Type 2: check which one you're buying
CGC explains that there are two versions of the 1952 Topps #311 Mantle, Type 1 and Type 2. They came from a duplicate design that was redrawn by hand. Two differences CGC points to:
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Type 1: the end of the "e" in the "Mantle" signature curves upward, and the Yankees logo has a solid black border on all sides.
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Type 2: the "e" does not curve upward, and the black border is missing along the bottom of the logo.
We could not confirm which type each of the seven copies above is, so this article does not compare prices by type. When you shop, identify the type from the listing images, and make sure your comps are the same type as the card you want.
Where mid grades start: a 2023 comp
For context, Sports Collectors Digest reported that a PSA EX-MINT 6 copy sold for $186,000 at Heritage's Summer Sports Card Catalog Auction on July 14-15, 2023. That copy had been kept in a cheese box for about 50 years. Its price was only slightly above this year's best PSA 3. However, it is a single 2023 sale, and prices in a different year are not directly comparable. Treat it as a rough marker, not as the current price of a PSA 6.
What to do with this
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Comp by grader and grade together. The PSA vs SGC gaps in this sale ranged from about 11% to about 60%.
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Price the specific copy. Two PSA 3s sold $30,500 apart. Look at centering and eye appeal before you rely on the number on the label.
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Know your all-in cost. Before you bid, read the auction house's current terms on buyer's premium and fees. The hammer price and your total cost are different numbers.
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Run the numbers before you grade, regrade, or cross over. If you are deciding whether to submit a raw card, or to move a slab from one company to another, our card grading break-even calculator compares your net proceeds with and without grading, using fees, shipping, and sale prices that you enter. It does not predict grades, current prices, or returns.
Caveats
This is one auction with seven sales, and in most cases only one sale per grade and company. It is not an index, and it does not predict what the next PSA 2 or SGC Authentic will sell for. Treat these numbers as one clear set of results for 1952 Topps Mantle prices in fall 2026, and add more sales before you rely on them.
Related reading
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Is the Olivia Miles Rookie Card a Better Hold Than Azzi Fudd's in 2026 Prizm WNBA?
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Delta Reign Preorders Open Before the Set Has a Price History
Sources
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The Post War Cards Newsletter #390, PostWarCards (Sept 22, 2026)
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Heritage Auctions Fall Sports Card Catalog Ends September 19-20, 2026, Auction Report
Note: This article contains AI-assisted content and has been reviewed in our editorial workflow.
DISCLAIMER: PureGrail articles are for informational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing on this site constitutes financial, investment, or legal advice. Collectibles are speculative assets and values can decrease significantly. Always conduct your own research before buying or selling. Past price performance does not indicate future results.
