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. This offered complete set of 407 is in the low-to-mid grade category with 103 total PSA graded cards including the coveted #311 Mickey Mantle, #261 Willie Mays and #407 Ed Mathews rookie. All 97 of the coveted "High Numbers" (#'s 311-407) are graded as well as these six: #1 Andy Pafko VG 3, #33 Warren Spahn VG 3, #37 Duke Snider "Authentic/Altered", #175 Billy Martin (RC) VG 3, #191 Yogi Berra GD 2, and #261 Mays VG 3. In addition, there are 43 of the scarcer "Black Backs" (ungraded). Here is the rest of the breakdown.
PSA EX-MT 6: 1 card, #330 Turk Lown.
PSA EX 5: 4 cards -- #345 Sam White, 348 Bob Kelly, 383 Del Wilber, and 386 Eddie Yuhas.
PSA VG-EX 4: 5 cards -- #339 Russ Meyer, 341 Hal Jeffcoat, 369 Dick Groat RC, 376 Faye Throneberry, and 395 Jake Pitler (MK).
PSA VG 3: 18 cards -- #314 Roy Campanella, 329, 334, 344 Ewell Blackwell, 347 Joe Adcock, 349 (MC), 350, 354, 370, 374, 381, 382 Sam Jones RC, 390, 394 Billy Herman, 397, 400 Bill Dickey, 401, and 407 Ed Mathews RC (MC).
PSA Good 2: 28 cards -- #312 Jackie Robinson, 316, 318, 320, 322, 323, 325, 335, 337, 352, 357 Smokey Burgess, 358, 359, 361, 362, 366, 367 (MK), 373, 375, 379, 385 Herman Franks, 388, 391, 396 Dick Williams RC, 399, 403, 404 and 406.
PSA PR-FR 1-1.5: 41 cards -- # 311 Mickey Mantle, 313 Bobby Thomson, 315 Leo Durocher, 317, 319, 321 Joe Black RC, 324, 326, 327, 328, 331, 332, 333 Pee Wee Reese, 336, 338, 340, 342 Clem Labine RC, 343, 346, 351, 353, 355, 356, 360, 363, 364, 365, 368, 371, 372 Gil McDougald RC, 377, 378, 380, 384 Frank Crosetti, 387, 389, 392 Hoyt Wilhelm RC, 393, 398, 402 and 405.
Ungraded Black Backs (#'s 1-80): 43 cards -- #3 Hank Thompson (FR), 4 Lenhardt (VG), 7 Terwilliger (VG), 8 Marsh (VG), 9 Hogue (GD), 11 Phil Rizzuto (FR/GD), 13 Wyrostek (VG-EX), 15 Johnny Pesky (VG-EX), 17 Hegan (VG), 19 Bucha (EX), 24 Easter (VG), 25 Groth (VG), 26 Monte Irvin (GD), 27 Sam Jethroe (VG), 29 Ted Kluszewski (VG/EX), 30 Mel Parnell (VG-EX), 31 Gus Zernial (EX-MT), 34 Valo (VG), 35 Hank Sauer (EX), 36 Gil Hodges (VG), 40 Irv Noren (VG), 42 Kretlow (GD), 43 Scarborough (EX/OC), 44 Dempsey (EX/OC), 46 Goldsbery (VG), 47 Jones (GD), 49 Johnny Sain (FR), 51 Russell (VG), 55 Ray Boone (EX), 57 Ed Lopat (VG), 60 Hudson (EX), 61 Gilbert (EX), 64 Sievers (VG/OC), 65 Enos Slaughter (FR), 66 Preacher Roe (VG-EX), 67 Allie Reynolds (GD), 69 Stallcup (EX), 72 Olson (VG), 73 Werle (GD), 75 Westrum (FR), 76 Stanky (EX), 79 Staley (VG), 80 Wehmeier (VG).
Other ungraded notables (red backs) -- #2 Pete Runnels RC (VG), 5 Larry Jansen (VG), 10 Al Rosen (VG-EX), 14 Elliott (VG), 20 Billy Loes RC (EX), 21 Fain (GD), 22 Dom DiMaggio (VG), 39 Dizzy Trout (EX-MT), 45 Ed Joost (VG), 48 Joe Page (VG), 59 Robin Roberts (VG), 88 Bob Feller (VG), 91 Red Schoendienst (VG-EX/MC), 95 Holcombe (EX/MK), Marshall (EX/MK), 110 Dutch Leonard (EX), 112 Majeski (EX/MK), 118 Raffensburger (NM), 119 McDermitt (EX-MT), 129 Johnny Mize (EX), 136 Schmitz (EX/MK), 154 Muir (EX-MT), 163 Rojek (EX-MT), 168 Charlie Silvera RC (VG/MC) 192 Ginsberg (EX/MC), 195 Minnie Minoso RC (VG/PD/ST), 200 Ralph Houk RC (GD/MK), 202 Joe Collins RC (VG), 215 Hank Bauer (AUTH), 216 Richie Ashburn (VG-EX), 219 Bobby Shantz (EX-MT), 227 Garagiola (VG), 228 Brazle (EX/ST), 230 Batts (NM), 233 Bob Friend RC (AUTH), 237 Jerry Coleman (EX/OC), 243 Larry Doby (EX/ST), 246 George Kell (VG), 247 Gumpert (VG-EX/MC), 248 Shea (PR/MK), 250 Carl Erskine (GD), 252 Bickford (EX/OC), 253 Berardino (AUTH), 267 Sid Gordon (VG), 268 Bob Lemon (FR), 272 Mike Garcia (NM), 274 Ralph Branca (EX-MT), 277 Early Wynn (VG), 289 Holmes (NM), 291 Coan (EX-MT), 296 Red Rolfe (EX-MT/MC), 308 Barba (EX-MT).
Card #'s 1-310 rate approximately 20% EX to NM, 50% VG to VG-EX, and 30% AUTH to GD.
High Numbers 311-407 grade 10% VG-EX to EX-MT, 18% VG, 29% GD, and 43% PR to FR.
Ungraded Black Backs rate approximately 20% EX to EX-MT, 40% VG, and 40% FR to GD.