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GEORGE MIKAN PSA 10 RC
ElToroLoco
Posts: 914 ✭
I thought this was an interesting article on the Beckett site. Who would have thought one of these cards existed in that condition. It's supposed to be auctioned at Memory Lane. Anyone want to guess what it'll end at? Minimum bid is $50,000.
MIKAN ARTICLE
MIKAN ARTICLE
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That's an interesting investment card though. With baseball having fallen far behind football in this country and basketball having a ton of marketable stars, it's not hard to imagine the NBA gaining more steam in the next 20 years. If that were to happen, that card would appreciate in value.
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<< <i>I like how it's described as "A virtually perfect copy", you mean not all PSA 10's are created equally?
On first thought, a PSA 10 should be "perfect"...not "virtually perfect".
However, since a PSA 10 is equivalent to an SGC 98 or BGS 9.5, an SGC 100 or BGS 10 is better; and you can't have "better than perfect".
So.....I guess a PSA 10 doesn't really have to be "perfect".
Steve
<< <i>Most cards are off center to a degree >>
And this example is no exception, l-r at least. Looks like a very nice 9, but that centering alone makes it a questionable 10.
If you just followed the NBA and tv (and tv marketing), his named doesn't come up much.
And I bet non sport fans wouldn't really know who he is (the way they would with like Knute Rockne or Jesse Owens or someone).
But interesting card, my guess is maybe as low as $120 k or $150 k. But less than $250 or $300.
Does Wilt Chamberlain EQUALS to Ruth?
<< <i>Mikan NOT EQUALS to Ruth
Does Wilt Chamberlain EQUALS to Ruth? >>
In the eyes of the public and collecting universe Mikan isn't in the same realm as Ruth.
<< <i>
<< <i>Mikan NOT EQUALS to Ruth
Does Wilt Chamberlain EQUALS to Ruth? >>
In the eyes of the public and collecting universe Mikan isn't in the same realm as Ruth. >>
I agree. Who do you think is the Ruth equivalent for basketball? i was thinking about MJ but I think MJ is too contemporary for the comparison. Part of the Ruth mystic is that he is of myth and tales, from a different world and generation. Most of us have already seen MJ. The only other is Wilt for Ruth comparsion. He scored 100 pts in a game that we don't even have footage of.
<< <i>I'm in the same boat as everyone else. I knew who Ruth was before I got into sports in elementary school, he was the baseball player the candy bar was named after. Mikan, on the other hand, he had one of the most expensive basketball cards, so said a price guide back then. The NBA is a young sport compared to baseball, it has gained international recognition in the last 20 years(thanks to the Dream Team) so it's possible that Wilt could be considered the Ruth of basketball. Jordan could be considered the Mantle of basketball. >>
Very well said. I think Mikan is more of the side of Cap Anson of basketball. That supposed to be the best of his time but no one would say the greatest.
I think Mikan is somewhat analogous to like Georges Vezina in hockey, or an early golfer before 1950.
Also the Minneapolis Lakers don't have the cache that Ruth's 1920's Yankees had.
Chamberlain benefits more from being in the tv era. And his association with the lakers in the late 60's, early 70's. But he still had incredible numbers.
<< <i>I knew who Ruth was before I got into sports in elementary school, he was the baseball player the candy bar was named after. >>
Officially, the Baby Ruth bar was not named after Babe Ruth, though that's up for debate:
Origin of the name
Although the name of the candy bar sounds nearly identical to the name of the famous baseball player Babe Ruth, the Curtiss Candy Company has traditionally claimed that it was named after President Grover Cleveland's daughter, Ruth Cleveland. Nonetheless, the bar first appeared in 1921, as Babe Ruth's fame was on the rise and long after Cleveland had left the White House and 17 years after his daughter had died. Moreover, the company had failed to negotiate an endorsement deal with Ruth, and many saw the company's story about the origin of the name of the bar as merely a way to avoid having to pay the baseball player any royalties. Ironically, Curtiss successfully shut down a rival bar that was approved by, and named for, Ruth, on the grounds that the names were too similar in the case of George H. Ruth Candy Co. v. Curtiss Candy Co, 49 F.2d 1033 (1931).[1]
A couple of versions of the story are referenced in the trivia book series Imponderables, by David Feldman.
In the edition called What Are Hyenas Laughing At, Anyway? (1995), p. 84, he reports the standard story about the bar being named for Grover Cleveland's daughter, with interesting additional information that ties it to the President: "The trademark was patterned exactly after the engraved lettering of the name used on a medallion struck for the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and picturing the President, his wife, and daughter Baby Ruth."
The next edition, How Do Astronauts Scratch an Itch? (1996), p. 288-289, brings out a new and potentially more plausible (and prosaic) explanation. The author was tipped off by a letter writer, referring to another trivia collection, More Misinformation, by Tom Burnam: "Burnam concluded that the candy bar was named... after the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Williamson, candy makers who developed the original formula and sold it to Curtiss." (Williamson had also sold the "Oh Henry!" formula to Curtiss around that time.) The writeup goes on to note that marketing the product as being named for a company executive's granddaughter would likely have been less successful, hence their "official" story.
However, in "Do Elephants Jump?" (2004), p. 264-265, David Mikkelson of Snopes.com denies the claim that the Williamsons invented the recipe, as Mr. George Williamson was head of the Williamson Candy Company, producers of the Oh Henry! bar. He continues to say that "the Baby Ruth bar came about when Otto Schnering, founder of the Curtiss Candy Company, made some alterations to his company's first candy offering, a confection known as 'Kandy Kake.'"
As if to tweak their own official denial of the name's origin, after Babe Ruth's Called Shot at Wrigley Field in the 1932 World Series, the Chicago-based Curtiss company installed an illuminated advertising sign for Baby Ruth on the roof of one of the flats across Sheffield Avenue, near where Ruth's home run ball had landed in center field. The sign stood for some four decades before finally being removed.
Company founder Otto Schnering chartered a plane in 1923 to drop thousands of Baby Ruth bars over the city of Pittsburgh — each with its own mini parachute.
In 1995, a company representing the Ruth estate licensed his name and likeness for use in a Baby Ruth marketing campaign.[2]
On p. 34 of the spring, 2007, edition of the Chicago Cubs game program, there is a full-page ad showing a partially-unwrapped Baby Ruth in front of the Wrigley ivy, with the caption, "The official candy bar of major league baseball, and proud sponsor of the Chicago Cubs."
Continuing the baseball-oriented theme, during the summer and post-season of the 2007 season, a TV ad for the candy bar showed an entire stadium (played by Dodger Stadium) filled with people munching Baby Ruths, and thus having to hum rather than singing along with "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch.
Here's an update on the whereabouts of the 1948 Bowman George Mikan PSA 10 (pop 1).
Apparently, It was bought in 2015, from SCP Auctions, for ~$403K. It went, along with a PSA 10 1970 Topps Maravich RC, to a guy named Tony Creighton.
It turns out that Creighton was the CEO of an internet sportsbook company, 5Dimes, and he was involved in some shady activities. He was abducted in Costa Rica in 2018. After a $1M ransom was paid, his captors killed him; his body was found in 2019.
Well, it looks like the Dept of Justice (DOJ) has been investigating the company, and Creighton's widow/5Dimes has agreed to forfeit more than $46.8M to the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS), in a settlement with the US Government. Included in the forfeiture, is the '48 Bowman Mikan and '70 Topps Maravich.
In the article, it states that according to the DOJ, the DHS, after obtaining the Mikan, "gifted" it to the Smithsonian. It doesn't say what happened to the Maravich.
https://sportscollectorsdaily.com/money-laundering-murder-and-a-museum-what-became-of-the-psa-10-george-mikan-rookie-card/?fbclid=IwAR11wbFfLzrkiJGTY4w-UekLu1slaOTERIvh06paKhZ0_OjFmyQp1x2Qh7U
Steve
just like the op that started this thread, this is some crazy bull...!
got the $1m ransom and then still killed him?
my question would be, will the Smithsonian actively display the Mikan or will it be relegated to a dusty box in the basement. If it will be displayed, then great. If not, I wish they had auctioned it and had it stay in private hands.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Agree too much great stuff is in museum storage. If they don’t display it bet someday a wealthy collector will obtain something the Smithsonian wants more than that card and trade them a historical artifact for it.
i think there is something in 501c law preventing that sort of thing, but i believe a legal loophole is being created specifically due to covid, so there is actually a possibility to this.
the fact that so many museums have lost most of its admission gate, gift shop sales and ability to host charitable events that drive the revenue to keep the doors open. under this amendment, they would be able to sell off pieces to keep them open and our historical institutions in place.
seems like a no brainer but there are so many entanglements in creating such an exemption that it will prolly take years to iron out.
but fully agree that we will probably see the mikan in a private collection someday. much like its travels above in getting to the smithsonian, the "how it got out" will be a pretty good story and bring even more allure to the card.
regardless, best believe there are collectors and curators at every level chomping at the bits to take advantage of this opportunity.
PSA should know that they have their item in that historic place. I hope they do.
Well, I would hope they read their own message forum!!!!!
@AFLfan Todd, you there??????
Steve
luckily leon doesnt collect vintage basketball!
bazinga.