The crown jewel of sports collectibles is the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, a coveted card whose pristine SGC-graded 9.5 copy fetched an astonishing $12.6 million at a Heritage Auctions sale in August 2022. The card was printed during Mantle's first full season with the Yankees when packs sold for five cents. There are fewer than 20 known cards in near‑mint‑plus condition or better, and none match this record-setting specimen's sharp corners and rich gloss, which shattered the previous baseball card benchmark by more than double.