The 1952 Topps set is one of the hobby’s most desired and eye-pleasing issues. When one card is a rookie edition of a future 500 home run club slugger and two-time World Series champion, you really get our attention. For icing on this already sweet cake, this specific card is from the 1952 issue's much tougher "high number" series. In fact, this is the very last card, #407, in the set. Imagine the abuse many of these #407’s took from thoughtless rubber bands tightly wrapped around the bottom of a youngster’s number ordered stack! We hate to think about it.
Thankfully this card didn’t receive that kind of treatment. Presented here is a pristine 1952 Topps #407 Ed Mathews rookie card, with the lofty grade of PSA NM-MT 8. There are only (2) graded higher and a mere (14) 8’s in PSA’s current Population Report. Another PSA 8 of this cardboard gem sold at auction earlier this year for $93,480, so we are in rarified cardboard air here!
For further insight, here is an excerpt from an October 28, 1997 story about the 1952 Topps set on the PSA website:
“#407 Eddie Mathews. The final card in the 1952 Topps set is a major condition rarity. This is the rookie card of the great Braves slugger. This card is rare in all grades and the centering is usually way off. In my opinion, it is the rarest regular issue post-war baseball card in NM-MT condition.”