Ran across this 2009 Topps Heritage 1/1 Mickey Mantle cut signature on eBay. Went for a nice amount too. Thanks to the owner (halscoins) for letting me use the scan of the card. Check out the eBay auction at:
2009 Topps Heritage Mickey Mantle Cut Signature
My dad had a card/stamp shop for years and I’ve been around the hobby/business for earnly 30 years. Part of the reason as it was explained to me looong ago was that pricing for any single card carries a premium because it is always priced as if it was removed from a complete set (true or not). If the set is no longer complete it is not a set and worth less especially if a key card is missing. Therefore it must carry a premium to offset the Loss of a complete set. It’s also a way to help boost the dealers bottom line. The reason a set would sell for less than it’s collective parts is worth is twofold.1. It takes longer to sell the Money cards in the set individually at full book price than as a set. usually you don’t get full book- especially with all the cards floating around today. In order to get that premium now you really need to start going back to issues predating 85 .2. Moving an entire set- even at a price lower than it’s individual break value allows you to decrease your stock. The majority of the set is common cards you won’t ever sell unless someone is piecing a set together or you use them for gimmick things like grab bags or bricks or lots, Not too many people come in looking for an ’83 Balboni for instance. Also nobody is really going to use display space to move cards that are only a couple bucks- they just sit in a box or album in case someone specifically asks for it. By getting rid of all these commons as part of a set you open up your storage space for newer/better selling inventory. You have to remember most dealers eat a part of what they buy because they have purchase qoutas to purchase directly from the manufacturer. If you don’t turn it over you can’t be on the next thing everyone is demanding- you lose business. I know the guides say one thing but the actual reality of what they sell for is usually quite different.