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The Quest for a '52 Mantle
Back in 2005, a gentleman by the name of Kyle MacDonald set off on the mission
of trading one red paperclip for a house. One year and 14 trades later,
he accomplished his goal. Last September, a gentleman by the name of Bryon
(or Elemenopeo by his Collectors
Universe Forum handle) set off on a similar
mission. His red paperclip: a 1986
Topps #418 Alan Knicely card. His house:
a 1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle card.
The Beginning - September 15, 2007
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It all started on the Collectors Universe Forums, a thread
titled, "I'll
trade ya this for a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle". It was an idea
that Bryon had been kicking around for a while and the day had finally
arrived to embark on the journey: trading his way from a 1986
Topps #418 Alan Knicely, all the way up to a 1952
Topps #311 Mickey Mantle.
His plans for the '52 Mantle? To enjoy it for a few
months, show it off to his family and friends and then auction it off,
with half of the
proceeds going to charity and the other half going to his 3-year old
daughter's college fund. Valiant enough.
Alan Knicely played 8 seasons in the Majors, batting
.213, a real common among commons, a red paperclip in a collecting world
where the 1952 Mantle
is as big as a house.
He set some ground rules, allowing himself the right to modify them
in case of unforeseen circumstances and he was on his way. |
Trade #1 - September 19, 2007
Well, the forum seemed enthusiastic about the prospect of
following along in this journey and several were willing to participate in
trades. After contemplating
the initial offers he received, Bryon decided to go with this card -
from the 1950
D358
Drake's
TV
Baseball
Series
set, #8
Carroll "Whitey"
Lockman, part of a 36-card set released by Drake's Bakeries in packages of
cookies once upon a time. Although he'd never heard of this set up until this
point,
the scarcity of the card was hard to pass up, and it was assuredly a grand
leap up from the Alan Knicely.
Trade #2 - October 13, 2007
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The Lockman card took Bryon a little
bit longer to trade than he expected, but eventually, came this trade
all the way from Canada - card
#73 of Forrest Gregg from the 1964
Philadelphia football set.
Forrest Gregg was 9-time Pro-Bowler and part of 6 World
Championship teams as a player. He later went on to coach and was head
coach of the
1981 Cincinnati Bengals team that went to the Super Bowl.
Bryon cited PSA grading, the popularity of the set, as well as good
eye appeal and decent name recognition as reasons for accepting this
trade.
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Trade #3 - October 23, 2007
Trade #4 - October 31, 2007
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Next, came an interesting move for Bryon
- a trade for "Kelvin who from what set?"
In 1990, Topps released limited, glossy versions of
its base set, and apparently, these cards, in gem condition, especially
of Dallas Cowboys players, are of particular interest to certain registry
set builders.
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