A Mickey Mantle autograph on a sticker can be had for $700.
But one collector paid $247,144, including buyer's premium, for 99 Mantle autographs on a piece of cardboard Saturday night at Lelands — an average of $2,496 per signature.
In April 1991, Mantle told Joseph Timmerman he wanted to see him at his hotel on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
When Timmerman walked in, Mantle showed him the gift he had made.
It was a piece of white cardboard with Mantle's name signed 99 times, with a very Mantle-like "These pens suck" among the signatures.
"I want you to someday sell this in the future and put your kids through college with it," Mantle said.
Mantle and Timmerman had been business partners since 1984. Timmerman was founder of Sports Impressions, which in the late '80s and early '90s popularized licensed porcelain items, including figurines, cards and plates. Timmerman signed Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, Dan Marino and Joe Montana, but Mantle was the face of the company.
In April 1991, Timmerman, who at the time was paying Mantle $110,000 a year, sold his company, and the new owner re-signed Mantle with a six-figure signing bonus.
Timmerman didn't use the autographs to get his kids through college, but now, at 74, he figured it was time for someone else to enjoy it.
After posting the sheet on Facebook, Timmerman took private offers — he said he turned down a $77,000 offer — but eventually decided to consign it to Lelands.
"When Mick gave me this gift, I didn’t think his comment, 'these pens suck,' was good or funny, but turns out it was magical," Timmerman told cllct Saturday night.
Before Mantle died in 1995, his signatures retailed for about $80. Autographs such as these fall in the $700 range today, which would equal $69,300 for the sheet if that's how it was calculated. But Timmerman said that was not the way to look at it.
"You can't find anything like this," Timmerman said. "It's a one of one."
"It's a beautiful piece from a man who signed so well until the end," longtime veteran autograph agent Harlan Werner said. "He once told me that he couldn't believe that he would make more money from one autograph than his dad made in a day in the coal mines, and his job was to give fans the best autograph possible every time."
In his later years, Mantle famously earned more signing autographs than he did playing the game. In 1989, he reportedly earned $150,000 from three days of signing at a 1961 Yankees reunion.
Even with that, it would hard to believe that one day, his signature signed 99 times would command nearly $250,000.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.