'52 is undeniably a classic set and will always have it's following for numerous reasons.
52-56 are the original larger "vintage" size. Lots of collectors tend to separate 52-56 from 57-72 (or 73 depending on your opinion) as the two main eras of vintage cards. I stop at 72 (or 73 depending on your perspective) because that's when Topps stopped issuing cards in series.
This is somewhat related, and I realize Beckett prices are mostly useless but I once did an analysis on the sum of individual card values in a set relative to the list value of a complete set. You can see that thread here:
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=183323