Before Mickey Mantle Became an Old London Coin

Here’s a neat piece of pre-production material I ran across in Mastro’s June 2007 Classic Collector Auction catalog: a 1965 Old London Coins Mickey Mantle proof.

The pre-production piece is a square paper proof featuring Mantle’s portrait and name against a blue background. Paper proofs are known for the issue, although exactly how many have survived isn’t clear. I’ve only found around a dozen for other players. And I’m not entirely convinced they’re all one-of-a-kind, since SGC’s Pop Report includes seven Bob Allison proofs and two Roger Maris proofs. That said, I’ve also seen slabbed examples that don’t appear in the Pop Report.

I think that same Mantle proof eventually made its way into an SGC holder, (based on a small mark by the M in Mickey) and PWCC sold that graded example for $468 in May 2018. Based on the slab and auctions for other proofs, it measures approximately 1¾ by 1¾ inches.

Interestingly, the Mantle itself appears to have been re-slabbed, or, as noted above, there are issues with SGC’s Pop Report. I spotted what appears to be this same proof shared on Reddit in a 2026 National pickup thread, only in a newer SGC holder.

The 1965 Old London set itself consists of 40 unnumbered coins, distributed with Old London snack products. The coins were individually wrapped in plastic and featured a surprisingly strong checklist that included Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roger Maris, Ernie Banks, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, and both Frank and Brooks Robinson.  

They were manufactured by Space Magic Ltd., the same company that produced the similar 1964 and 1971 Topps baseball coins.  

And while the proof is considerably scarcer, the finished Mantle coin can get expensive in elite condition. PSA has graded 196 examples, including 14 PSA 9s. The highest price I found for one of those Mint 9s was $5,280, realized by REA in October 2022. For anyone who wants the production version, mid-grade examples on eBay are pretty affordable.

Not bad for something that originally came with a bag of snacks.

Happy collecting!