1962 Bazooka Complete Box with Mickey Mantle - Highest Graded!

Sold For:

$6,900

Year:

1962

Auction:

2019 Summer

Lot #:

1293

Category:

Postwar Baseball - 1960s Cards

Graded VG-EX 4 by PSA (submitted by REA). This is the ONLY example graded at this level by PSA with none higher! In 1962, if you were walking down the candy store aisle, you would have seen unopened boxes of Bazooka bubble-gum stacked along the shelves, with the bold company logo on the front along with the promise of a baseball trading card on the reverse. Eager children would have undoubtedly scoured the available boxes for their favorite player and implored their parents to buy that very box so they could cut out the card and add it to their collection. No player was more popular at this time than Mickey Mantle, the New York Yankees slugger who was coming off an impressive 1961 season in which he clubbed 54 home runs and led the Yankees to a World Series championship. One dedicated collector had the foresight to realize what a remarkable collectible an intact box would someday be and kept his prized Mantle box carefully guarded for all these years! Presented in this lot is an exceptional complete box of Bazooka Bubble Gum featuring a striking example of Mickey Mantle on the reverse, along with Art Mahaffey and Dick Stuart. The preservation of this box is most improbable. We have seen only a handful of complete boxes offered for sale at public auction in the last 20 years. This auction miraculously features seven examples from this scarce 1960s package-design issue. The unassembled box, which measures 10 x 4-1/4, retains much of its original color and presents very well overall. There are a few unobtrusive creases visible, none of which impact the cards, and are mentioned solely for accuracy. The cards are clean and free of creases or wrinkles. Bazooka boxes are rarely seen in their original form, let alone with the key card to the series prominently displayed on the back. This is an extremely desirable collectible that would be at home in any world-class Mickey Mantle or advertising collection. Reserve $500. Estimate (open).