NJ Brothers Find 1952 Mickey Mantle Cards; Top-Graded Card Valued at $1M

Two New Jersey brothers struck gold while searching through their collection of old baseball cards when they found five 1952 Topps cards that featured New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle.

On Wednesday, Vin A. Cherwoo of the Associated Press reported the siblings, who wished to be identified only by their first names, John and Ed, said the most valuable card from the group was valued at $1 million by Heritage Auctions.

"We always knew we had the cards, but they were just in the attic," John said. "We were fortunate our mother stayed and lived in the house until she was almost 102. Most people would have moved at some point, and in the move things like baseball cards and old-school books would get thrown away. Ours just stayed there for 50 years."

John, who transferred the cards to his basement after their mom died in 2006, said he was offered $8,000 for their entire collection sometime around 1980.

He added no decision has been made about how to spend the money with the most valuable of the cards currently part of an auction that runs through Aug. 19.

"It seems tempting fate to be planning too far in advance of what are you going to do, a counting-your-chickens syndrome," John told the AP.

Former NFL offensive lineman Evan Mathis sold his 1952 Mantle card for $2.88 million in April.