The 1952 Topps Baseball issue is undoubtedly one of the three most important sets in the hobby, along with 1933 Goudey gum and the T206 tobacco series. Their larger size and bold, colorful imagery gained hold of early 1950's collectors and placed Topps at the forefront of the bubble gum sport card business. As difficult it is to complete the 407-card basic set with red backs, it is nearly impossible to put together a master set with the 80 additional 1st Series cards in "black-back" form, the Joe Page and Johnny Sain "wrong bio" reverses (#48 and 49), the rare #307 Frank Campos "black star" variation, and the even scarcer #146 Frank House “yellow Tigers logo” variation just recently recognized by PSA and added to the master set. This offered masterpiece contains all 491 cards with a total of 62 graded by either PSA or SGC. Most fall within the VG to VG-EX range, including the coveted #311 Mickey Mantle, #261 Willie Mays and #407 Ed Mathews. This the first ’52 Topps Master set we’ve ever had the privilege of listing at auction.
Red Backs (1-407):
Low Numbers (66% VG, 23% VG-EX, 4% Higher, 7% Lower), (12) Graded: 1 Pafko (SGC 3), 2 Runnels (PSA 2), 11 Rizzuto (PSA 2.5), 33 Spahn (PSA 5), 22 Dom DiMaggio (PSA 3), 37 Snider (PSA 3.5), 59 Roberts (SGC 4.5), 67 Reynolds (PSA 3), 175 Martin (PSA 4), 191 Berra (SGC 4), 261 Mays (SGC 3.5), 274 Branca (PSA 3).
High Numbers (22% GD, 61% VG, 12% VG-EX, 2% Higher, 3% Lower), (40) Graded: 311 Mantle (SGC 3), 312 Robinson (PSA 3), 313 Thomson (PSA 4), 314 Campanella (PSA 2), 315 Durocher (SGC 3), 320 Rutherford (PSA 2.5), 322 Jackson (PSA 3), 323 Church (PSA 3), 324 Hacker (PSA 2), 326 Shuba (PSA 2), 329 Delock (PSA 4), 332 Bartirome (PSA 1), 333 Reese (SGC 3.5), 340 Hooper (PSA 3), 336 Koslo (PSA 3), 338 Yvars (PSA 3), 339 Meyer (PSA 4), 342 Labine (PSA 3), 344 Blackwell (PSA 4), 345 White (PSA 2), 346 Spencer (PSA 2), 350 Abrams (PSA 4.5), 351 Dark (PSA 4), 355 Morgan (PSA 4), 358 Kucab (PSA 3), 367 Thorpe (PSA 5MC), 369 Groat (PSA 4), 373 Turner (PSA 2), 374 Benton (PSA 2), 384 Crosetti (PSA 2.5), 385 Franks (PSA 3), 390 Nelson (PSA 4), 392 Wilhelm (SGC 4), 394 Herman (SGC 6), 396 Williams (PSA 1.5), 400 Dickey (SGC 3), 401 Shultz (PSA 3MC), 402 Harrist (PSA 4), 406 Nuxhall (PSA 2), 407 Mathews (PSA 3).
Black Backs (1-80): (68% VG, 20% VG-EX, 2% Higher, 10% Lower)
(6) Graded: 1 Pafko (SGC 2), 3 Thompson (PSA 3), 11 Rizzuto (SGC 4), 31 Zernial (PSA 3.5), 33 Spahn (SGC 3), 37 Snider (SGC 4).
Variations:
48 Page - Sain Back (PSA 3), 49 Sain - Page Back (PSA 3), 146 House Yellow Tiger (PSA 1.5)(Recently recognized by PSA; only three graded), 307 Campos Black Star (PSA 2.5).