Well your Wilhelm still beats my turd! Someone SCRIBBLED all over the front!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...76409b813e.jpg

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One of the last few high minors picked up: Joe Black.

This card was cheap, though not alarmingly so. But it's not pretty. Between increasing prices (trying to stay on budget for the set), decreasing supply, and impatience to finish the set so much sooner than I expected, I'm starting to let my standards lax. Granted this one doesn't have any of the worst beater-like significant paper loss/tape/writing type damage that I pledged to avoid from the start, but it's still "poor" enough that I would've probably passed on this six months ago.

Am also getting a few more raw highs than I ever planned to. That makes this more exhausting, because I'm still not strong enough at diagnosing fakes/reprints or trimming. I know a lot of people say how obvious intentionally rounded corners, white corner wear, edges that look wrong, and so many other of those characteristics are, but for some of us, it's not as simple to diagnose sometimes as it's made out to be. I stick with longtime sellers with a great history in those spots, but as we all know, that's not foolproof either.

Naturally I'll double check the Black when it gets here, but I don't expect any problems. If anyone disagrees, feel free to let me know!

382/407

https://i.imgur.com/5GlRAed.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/yWsRgBM.jpg

Three more commons.

385/407

Hi John

Thanks for the posts and sharing of your journey, it’s been an interesting read for me as I try to do the same (although at a much slower pace!). I started with the goal of completing a PSA graded low number set, which I competed about 2 years ago. I recently decided at give the highs a crack, although at this point I only have 8. The lows I was looking for mid grade (PSA3-6), the highs will most likely by PSA1-3 (the only one of note I have is Mathews in a PSA1). Hoping to focus on it a bit on this in 2021, maybe target 20 or so in the next year. Interesting to read your perspective on lowering your grading threshold as your work through. It’s such a large set and so dictated by availability that it’s almost a foregone conclusion. Good luck with the last few cards, it will be a great accomplishment when you’re done. The question is, where do you go from there?!

There are few places better to start than the Mathews though :) While the highs are naturally tough to start at this point in the marketplace, it could be worse. When I looked back at a couple SCDs from the junk wax era, it was surprising to see that low-grade highs (other than Jackie Robinson and, of course, Mantle) aren't that much more expensive than back then. While if someone is trying to start collecting something like PSA 9 or 10 '80s football or '86 Fleer basketball, you're paying like 5-8 times what the HOF rookie cards sold for one year ago

From here, I plan on slowing way down for awhile. Have been fortunate enough to land most of what I hoped to get (across everything). Eventually I want to fill in the entire '51 to '85 baseball sets run, but all the '60s (except '67) and a lot of the '70s remain. But it's the ones I'm least interested in that are left, so it's far from a rush.

One...more...common

It's been almost a year now since the build began. No timetable for what's remaining; will get whatever I can, whenever the deal seems alright.

But highs are pretty picked over at the moment (even a little more than usual)

386/407

This is my first post on the forum, so hopefully I did it correctly. First of all, thanks to everyone on this forum for sharing your knowledge. I am newly re-interested in collecting baseball cards. I grew up in the 80’s and collected my entire childhood (wish I still had my old collection). Collecting sure has changed since then. I have learned so much just reading through the historical posts on this forum.

Like many others, I think the epidemic has given me more time to reflect on the past and card collecting brings with it a sense of nostalgia and a way to fill time. I also hope that it can be a shared experience with my sons (age 5 and 7).

Growing up I collected Topps - coolest thing I ever did was put together a 78 Topps set in the late 80’s. I like the process of set collecting and decided that I want a longer term project to focus on and have embarked on the process of attempting to collect the 52 Topps set. To this day, I still remember being a kid and looking at the 52 Mantle at my LCS and thinking how great of a card it was. Not to mention everyone’s posts on this forum outlining the beauty of this set.

My current philosophy is to attempt to build in a PSA 5-6 (obviously will need to settle for a lot less on a handle full of key cards). I’ve seen on this forum and agree that a well-centered 5 presents very nicely. In the last 2 months I’ve compiled 30 commons (including a few high numbers). Most significant card so far is Herman Wehmeir (red back) in PSA 6 from the Greg Morris auction the other night - cannot wait to get that one in hand.

I’m interested in what others think of what seems like very quick inflation on the prices of the non-Mantle stars (Robinson, Mays, Mathews, Campanella, Wilhelm) in lower grades 2-5. I’d like to pick-up at least one or two of these in the short term to feel a real sense of commitment to the set and a bit of accomplishment. I’m not looking at this as an investment so not concerned with that, but because I am viewing this as a longer term (at least a few year) project I don’t want to rush into buying something if the prices are close to the top of a bubble. The commons and minor stars seem to be fairly consistent on pricing to me so I am going to keep plugging away on those now.

Thanks again for sharing all of you knowledge and I’ll update on my progress as I move forward.

Jackie and Mays have led the way during covid. Low grade ones have tripled in price; when I started last February, I remember noticing that Willie was extremely easy. You had your pick of the litter for a $1000 grade 2. Now if I were starting out, I'd focus on a PSA 4 or 5. Those are a much better value now, as all the new quarantine set collectors have pushed up the lowest grade key cards just to "have the set" as cheaply as possible. Not just in some of the '52, but all over quality vintage during this time.

The other huge cards/other HOFers/high numbers have done about as well as other top of the line vintage (up around 40-80%). And like you mentioned, the minors (except for Minoso and Doby) and commons haven't moved much.

As far as "bubble" talk, naturally it's impossible to time as well as many think. Just like during the junk wax boom, most post-war baseball vintage hasn't exploded like many other bubble-ish items from the modern or other sports worlds. And when things eventually burst in those other areas, that vintage probably won't get hurt nearly as badly on the downside either.

But the thing is, starting out with the '52 now is still awful tough, cause it's so damn expensive that even the "non-bubble" gains have really taxed the bottom line of buying now. You'll have to be very price-conscious and patient (and have your really long-term view) to navigate the possible current pitfalls well enough.

Out of the blue....it looks like I have completed my set tonight. Had 21 high numbers left, and a longtime ebay member (and seller of plenty of '52s recently) had just listed a complete high # lot (minus Mantle) for sale, and it was nice stuff priced at fair market value.

He was getting a lot of requests already for individual cards, so between that and my offer to work something out, he decided to take down the listing and break it up, and a deal for my 21 remaining was reached 🙂

The cards range from PSA 1 to PSA 5, but many were centered 4s and 5s. A nice way to finish things off.

Will hold off on final numbers until everything is in hand, but it looks like this journey is complete!

That's great. Congratulations on completing the set.

Congrats on completion...I saw that lot yesterday too and considered sending a message also, however, the two cards I need to finish my set were lower graded than what I was seeking.

That's a huge 52 Topps accomplishment!

Congrats again, John. :)

Thanks guys.

Larry, that's just unlucky that yours were lower grade. He had plenty that were nice mid-grade (or 3s with great eye appeal).

Only two of mine were PSA 1s from the order. I'd wanted to avoid any 1s at first, but since I'd still ended up with six high number 1s prior, it didn't really matter at this point. And there are already enough 1.5s and 2s in mine too that it doesn't make much of a difference.

May upgrade those 1s at some point, but with the price craziness at the moment, I was glad to get it finished.

The package with the last 21 highs arrived, so it's officially complete :D

Also was unexpectedly able to upgrade the set's main weakness, which was the PSA 1 Hoyt Wilhelm. Got a nice deal on a PSA 3.5, which is on its way. Then I'll sell the current one, and eventually the other dozen or so low number doubles that have been acquired along the way.

The only other upgrades I'll probably fool with sometime are the other grade 1s. There are nine lows and six highs, all commons. Even if it's just to get PSA 1.5 highs or raws that'd be fr instead of pr, it'd still be nice to hold on entirely to that standard that I initially hoped for.

The final average condition was 2.7, for both low and high #s. Though the weighted average (and how the set "feels"), is a little nicer than that, since the cadillac cards are 3s, Campy/Reese/Mays/Bart average a 3.5, and most of the top low # HOFers are 4s or 5s.

Every low number common is raw, while most key lows (and all highs, except a handful of commons) are graded, mostly PSA.

It's been fun logging the progress here, and doing so led to completing it faster (and more efficiently) than I ever expected, thanks to the help of some forum members filling some of it in!

407/407

Avg overall condition: 2.7

Avg cond of high # keys: 3.1

Avg cond of low # keys: 4.0

Top 10 cards w/ grade:

311 Mickey Mantle: 3
407 Eddie Mathews (R): 3
312 Jackie Robinson: 3
261 Willie Mays: 3.5
314 Roy Campanella: 4
392 Hoyt Wilhelm (R): 3.5
333 Pee Wee Reese: 4
332 Tony Bartirome: 2.5
1 Andy Pafko: 2.5
400 Bill Dickey: 2

Congrats!!
 

Must feel so good to have all 407. I'm looking forward to it one day.

Big congrats on the achievement!

Congrats on your completion! Now you just need errors and variations. Let the hunt begin, again 😁

You should upgrade them now to NM or better.

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1952 Complete Set --Values
 

With a lot of 1952 Topps cards getting increased attention as of late, I'm interested in what people think a basic complete 1952 Topps set (407 cards) would sell for if each card was in a PSA 1 holder? Thoughts on this?

About $40K depending on the eye appeal of Mantle, Mays, Mathews, Wilhelm, Robinson, etc. You'd be better off breaking the set for sale.

Complete Set
 

No intention of selling my cards as of now...just interested in people's thoughts on a straight PSA 1 set of 407.

Im thinking 40k for the basic (407) set in 1 holders might be a pretty good deal these days.

Unless it's a 1 that's really beat up, that's true. Especially for PSA 1s.

When logging some data today, I noticed that the Mantle was almost exactly half the cost of the set (practically down to the dollar). Couldn't have done that if I tried.

Though that's not a good reference point for future set builders (given the push in Mantle prices since that $5.2 mil sale)

1952
 

I'm thinking a straight PSA 1 set (all 407 cards) would fetch 70k+ these days with a decent looking Mantle, Mays, Robinson and Mathews...what do others think?

1952 Topps
 

I almost forgot to add that I just reached 407 / 407! It's been a really fun adventure working to sell, trade and buy from and with a lot of different folks. My low number run consists of about 175 cards that were handed down to me from my father figure who passed unexpectedly last year. He had a lot of cards but he always saw the 1952 set as the greatest group of all time and the set as unreaceable. I'm happy to have compleated the set in his honor. 1 -- 310 are pretty nice Good -- Ex...mostly VG...311 -- 407 are Poor -- Good for the most part some a bit nicer. All cards are raw except for a decent PSA 1 Mantle (which I feel is undergraded), a decent PSA 1.5 Mays, a decent PSA 1.5 Robinson and a really nice PSA 2 Mathews. Took two generations to build it, but we did it right within our means. Now my kid gets to do the upgrading down the road...unless we get some really interesting offer. Love this set! ❤️⚾️

Ethan, congrats again on finishing the set! I still find it cool that the last card you got was the last card in the set, and the Mathews you picked up is incredible for being a 2.

Congratulations on your completion.....must feel good to have that last/final card in hand.

I recently picked up the #406 Nuxhall card, ironically this card was my 406th unique card meaning just 1 more to go....314 Campy.

With the price of the keys (Mantle, Mays, Jrob, Mathews) still apparently not at their ceiling yet, $70K for a PSA 1+ type set with nice eye appeal seems very reasonable these days.

What an awesome accomplishment! Congrats! I started my collection a couple years ago...I’m up to ~ 120 cards with a couple doubles. I have tried to focus on centered cards which is a tough task. Congrats again!


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That's great that you completed it :)

I'd guess a PSA 1 set with a decent Mantle would probably be worth about 65-70 k, yep (just a loose quick calculation)

Congratulations, Ethan!!! :)

A significant accomplishment. Wonder how many full sets are out there

Way to go, Ethan!

That's one heck of an accomplishment!

1952 Topps
 

Great question, I was wondering the same thing. I have seen a lot of partial sets and 1952 large groups out there, but it is rare to see a complete 407 / 407 available for sale or trade.

While there are 26 407 card sets currently showing as complete on PSA's regular set registry, my guess is the total number of complete 407 card sets (raw, graded, both) is 10 to 15 times what shows on the registry, or 300-400 total.

There have been multiple threads discussing the populations of high number cards (both raw and graded), so based on estimates in those threads, 300-400 total sets seems inline.

Of course for Al, a "full set" includes all possible variations plus the regular 407 card set....my estimate of the number of "master" sets in existence would be 5 or less.

1952 Set
 

Good company to be in. I'm already thinking about making some upgrades...nice to know that I can have that to focus on. That said, my entire set could be upgraded 😊.

4 more highs to add to my set.
31 to go and counting.

It's not too often you find CDN sellers selling 52 Topps cards, let alone highs, so I went after these after I got outbid on a Campy and Wilhelm card.
Sure would have loved those 2 but there were more eyes on them than I anticipated.
Regardless, and although these cards aren't without issues, I am glad I was able to snag these 4. :)

Nice pick ups Dale, good luck with the last 31. The end is near.


Finally hit my paydirt last week:

https://www.psacard.com/psasetregist...blishedset/100

You for got add "...for Al that includes an unopened pack of cards..."

Also, Larry I think there are a number of variations in the '52 set that are known but not publicized yet.

Dale - nice pickups

Timely thread for me. This weekend on eBay and with some online sellers one thing led to another and before I knew it I’m now up to 78 cards in the set. I guess that means I’m officially in. Wish me luck.

Thanks, and congrats on completed your set! That's a big accomplishment.

Thanks. :)

Always glad to have another 52 Topps collector on board. It's a great set and is a fun set to put together.

Good luck! :)

Actually those are nice looking cards, Dale... They have good eye appeal.
and they're high numbers, always an accomplishment to get those!

Thanks Jason! :)

I was actually surprised, when I received them today, how white/clean the borders/cards are. The sellers scans did not highlight them well enough, imo, to show this.
I know a lot of members say their cards look much nicer in hand, (and I'm one of them) as my printer, as I've said before, makes mine look darker as well.

Plus (as just mentioned) the unopened pack. Oh and a wrapper, display box, deed to the house Mantle grew up in, and a chip of paint from every corner store that sold '52s back then :)

Dale, those are some nice looking high numbers. Good luck with the quest for the last 31.

Thanks, Jay. :)

Luck. :)

Oh snap! I might be going down this pigeon hole and starting this set! The only problem is that I feel that all of the sets from 1951-1956 are such nice looking sets!

There is a 52 Gallery set thread in here in which those collecting the set posted all 407 cards in order including variants

You stopped one year too soon ??
 

The '57 set ain't exactly chopped liver ??:

http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/204295...TIFULS_NEW.JPG

57s have at least two versions of each card, dark and less dark. But it is one of my favorites

52 Gallery thread. Gets off the a rough start but eventually gets going on first page

https://www.net54baseball.com/showth...s+1952+gallery