Hey guys, glad to see 1952 Bowman being discussed.
This is also my favorite vintage set. I have been building a mid-grade (mostly EX) set for the last three years. I am 90% of the way done, and just a couple weeks ago, pulled the trigger on a Mantle. So I have all of the high dollar cards already purchased (Mantle, Mays, Musial, Berra, Snider) and most of the other hall of famers.
I'm honestly in no rush, because I really enjoy the pursuit. When I finish the set, I'll be sure to post some pics and some stats along the way. I keep records of when I get the cards, where they come from (i.e. in person, online as well as state shipped from), etc.
As of now, I don't plan on getting both versions of cards 1 - 72. I definitely prefer the whiter versions, but I have a mix of both. I don't think I would necessarily enjoy having duplicates of all those cards.
However, I do have the other major variation...the #248 Bill Werle "missing part of signature" card (as you can see in the picture below, the variation has part of the "W" missing in his signature). This one can be fairly hard to track down (in a reasonable price). You can usually find some very over priced ones on Ebay at any given time....but if you are patient, I've found that the variations comes up a couple times a year in a straight auction format...and that's how I acquired mine.
Another interesting bit of information I found online was this old blogpost that discusses the series release dates based on trades. I can't vouch for who wrote this, or the accuracy, but I think it gives a valid estimation of WHEN the different series were released.
https://pjdenterprises.com/baseball_...52_bowman.html
At any rate, keep posting your updates and thoughts on the 1952 Bowman set...because I could read about it all day.
Here are a couple pics from my set for now...both versions of the Werle, as well as my newly acquired Mantle.
E18861C3-EE16-411E-99ED-686047E808C7.jpg
Mantle.JPG