How To Spot A Fake 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Card

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The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card is one of the most iconic and valuable cards in the hobby.

A Gem-Mint condition copy of the card sold recently for $12.6 Million, shattering all records.

It’s not even a rare card, as it was double-printed by Topps, even though thousands of the high-series 1952 Topps cards were dumped into the Atlantic Ocean.

And while it is Mantle’s first official Topps issue, it’s not technically his rookie card (that honor goes to Mantle’s 1951 Bowman card), although many refer to it as such.

As with all desirable cards, there exists a fairly prominent counterfeit market trying to dupe vintage collectors into believing their fakes are the real thing.

Any collector making such a big investment in a Mickey Mantle baseball card needs to know the facts.

So, with this guide, we break it all down. Let’s examine the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card and help distinguish a real one from a fake.

Differences Between Type 1 and Type 2 1952 Topps Mantle

Topps issued two versions of the #311 Mickey Mantle card in its 1952 Topps set.  There are several differences between the two cards, and we highlight them below. 

If you’re in the market for a ’52 Mantle, then you should definitely get up to speed on the two different cards.

Ten Key Items To Look Out For on The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Card

• The bottom-left border of the Type One card is missing a pixel, making that corner look unsquared off, unlike the Type Two Mantle card.
  
• On the Type One Mantle, the box surrounding the Yankees logo has a well-defined black border, whereas the Type Two Mantle has a much thinner, more jagged type border. In addition, there is no bottom border around the logo square in the Type Two version.
  
• In Mickey Mantle’s signature on the Type One card, the last letter, the ‘e’, has a curve upwards at the bottom of the signature.  On the Type Two Mantle, this little curve upwards does not exist.
  
• In the rectangular box at the bottom of the card, above Mickey Mantle’s name in text, the stars above it are in a well-defined straight line on the Type One card.  In the Type Two version, these stars look a bit more mangled and less neat.
  
• On the Type Two Mantle, there is a tiny missing blue pixel near the top left of the card, which we have circled.
  
• On top of the Type Two Mantle, the two border corners overlap and extend outward to the sides, whereas on Type One, the top-left border is nearly square, with the top-right corner slightly indented.
  
• On both cards, the bat should be yellow with those black markings.  A lot of the fakes are missing the black spots on the bat.
  
• The Type One Mantle tends to have brighter overall colors than the Type Two.
  
• The back of the Type One Mantle has stitches pointing left, whereas they point right on the Type Two.
  
•  The ‘h’ in right and the ‘s’ in DiMaggio’s are nearly perfectly aligned on Type One Back; on the Type Two back, the ‘s’ is to the right of the ‘h’.

Known Counterfeits and How To Identify Them

Given that there are actually two different types of 1952 Topps Mantle cards it makes for a bit more of a challenge in identifying a fake.  Thankfully, we’ve seen plenty of different fake versions of the card; thus, we hope these examples help.

First things first, look at the section above and know how to distinguish between a Type One and a Type Two Mantle.  So, when you get that card in front of you, you’ll know exactly what it is you have to look for.

Type Two – Missing Dot and Black Bat Marks

This one was obviously reproduced as a ‘Type Two’ Mantle. I can tell this is a fake from a mile away.  The pristine corners, the whiteness of the card, all a dead giveaway. 

But even if you aren’t that skilled in authenticating, you would be able to tell from two small nuances. 

That missing blue dot isn’t there.  In addition, the black marks on the yellow bat are missing.  Thus, this is a fake and notably a pretty bad one.  If this one tricked you, go back and examine the two real cards!

Type Two – No Noticeable Missing Print Marks

Here’s a Type Two fake that’s a lot harder to authenticate. 

The dot appears to be there, though it is hard to tell from the photo whether the card was edited to insert the missing pixel or printed that way.

The bat has some noticeable scuff marks, which is odd, and could have been done to obscure some missing blocks of black on the bat. The card is perfectly centered as well, and for many fakes, the fronts are perfectly centered while the backs are off-center (as is the case with this forgery). 

One of the biggest red flags is the corners, which look as if they were artificially rounded, likely with some sandpaper; it just doesn’t look like natural corner wear and tear for a 70+ year-old card.

Dark Green Backgrounds

Have seen a lot of fakes with a darker green background, as opposed to the blue backgrounds on the originals. 

This one here was a recent eBay auction that duped an unsuspecting buyer. 

Not only is the background too dark, but there are other obvious warning signs.  The front looks like it was intentionally ground down, likely with some sandpaper, and the corners look like they were artificially aged as well.   
Whenever i see those sharp corner cuts like on that top left corner I always think it’s a fake.  Just seems like a common trait among vintage card scammers.

Type One – Missing Bat Marks, Intentional Aging

Here’s a Type One Mantle that is missing the black print marks on the bat.  In addition, look at those scuffing marks on the card. 

It’s quite rare to see marks like that on a vintage card; it certainly looks very intentional in my opinion.  Plus, those corners look very intentionally rounded.  Note, this card was listed for $5000 on eBay.

Watch Out for Mantles in Fake ‘Flips’

A lot of scammers will resort to replicating graded cards by doing either one of two things.  Some will create fake holders and fake ‘flips’ (or labels) and insert a counterfeit card into them. 

In this case, they will print an actual cert number on the flip, duping anyone who looks up the card’s cert number on any grading company’s website.  Some actually resort to cracking open legitimate cases of a real card, taking out the real card, and replacing it with a counterfeit.

Here’s one example of a fake holder-and-flip discovered by the folks at Net54.  The card holder and cert number were copied from a real PSA graded Mantle card.

Here’s the real one, as graded by PSA, that they were copying.  You can see the differences in the card, notably that the real card has a white print defect in the top-right middle.

So, not only do we have to look out for countless forgeries when looking at raw cards, we have to be on the lookout for fakes in PSA and SGC holders. 

The best thing you can do, even if buying a graded copy, is to scour old auction listings for prior sales to make sure your card looks like the one sold before your transaction. 

I suggest checking out our counterfeit guide for helpful tips for dealing with eBay sellers.

Watch Out For Fake Miscut Mantles

I’ve seen several of these cards pop up on eBay and Facebook lately, so someone somewhere has been creating these.

These are definitely fake and have been artificially aged. The paper is wrong, and the coloring is off.   I have never seen any Mantles this miscut that show the Jackie Robinson text on the back.  These two cards were next to each other on the original sheet, so it is possible, but if you see one that looks like this, beware.

Using Black Light and A Loupe

If you have access to a black light and a loupe and can examine the Mantle in person, you should be able to get a quick idea of the card’s authenticity.

First, if we take a look at the Mantle under a 10X magnifying loupe, we should notice a few important things.  Typically, most fakes are printed entirely in halftone ink.

On a real Mantle, the yellow ink behind the stars, the black ink for the borders of the stars, the black ink for Mickey Mantle’s name and signature, and the actual borders of the card were all printed in solid ink.

Thus, if we look at a fake under magnification, these areas of the card would normally show up as a dot-matrix effect, as opposed to the solid ink on the original card.

If you have a black light, go into a dark room and shine it on the Mantle.  If it fluoresces, you likely have a fake on your hand.  And you’ll be amazed at what you might be able to pick up with the black light.

Here’s an example of a 1952 Mantle that was shown under black light to have been significantly restored.

Where to Buy a ’52 Topps Mantle

First, even though we have shown you how to detect a forgery, don’t think you can rush out today and buy a raw Mantle.  Especially on eBay.  There are forgeries galore on eBay.  You have to be super careful, although eBay’s new Authenticity Guarantee program does help.

I would tend to recommend buying a graded Mantle before anything else, especially from someone with a trusted reputation.  Check out vintage auction houses to see if they might have any listings coming up soon.

This isn’t to say I would avoid eBay, as it remains the most accessible marketplace for all vintage cards, and Mantle 52 Topps cards are always listed for sale.   Just stick to those with feedback near 100, and you might find yourself a deal.

Occasionally, you might come across a raw or graded Mantle at your local card show, but normally, the asking prices are way too high, you could get lucky and find a dealer looking to sell off the card.   We’ve listed some of the latest Mantle auctions at eBay below to give you a head start.

Related Resources on Authenticating Cards

• Detecting Counterfeit Vintage Cards
• How To Spot A Trimmed Card
• How To Spot A Fake 1933 Goudey Ruth or Gehrig
• How To Spot A Fake 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle
• How To Spot A Fake T206 Card

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