Hard/difficult to find 52 Topps cards?
 

I have been trying, since I joined the site, to educate myself as much as possible about anomalies, variations and hard to get 52 Topps cards but after seeing this one recently, I realized I still have much to learn.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-G...vip=true&rt=nc

I also have a Gerald Staley, (Black back) which is a far cry from this one condition wise, but I had no idea it was a difficult card to find centered and in great shape. Is this the norm for the first series cards?

Personally, I thought, because it's a low number, and as far as I know, a common, I had no idea this card would fetch this kind of money if it was in great shape.

I am aware of the 5th and 6th high numbers series being more rare/scarce, but not aware, other than Pafko and a couple others in the first series, being hard to find in great shape.

Any info/advice where I could find things like this out would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks. :)

https://www.psacard.com/pop/baseball...52/topps/49722
The PSA Pop Report will answer many questions for you.
In this case, the Gerald Staley cards have over 500 graded, with a total of 20 graded PSA 8 and only one 8.5. There are also a few 8s with qualifiers, making them approximately 6s.
You can look at the rest of the pop report to see which cards have zero 9s and 10s to find the ones that are hard to find in solid condition and centered.

Edit: and for what it's worth, it's possible the 8s don't ever come up for sale. However, if someone bought this thinking it was a candidate for a bump, they're going to lose on it. Despite having a hologram flip, the serial # is and old one, so it wasn't recently called an 8. With the top two corners showing significant wear to my eye, I'd be surprised if this would get a 6.5 today.

PPS: PSA breaks apart the black backs from the ones that are supposedly red backs, but it's likely that many without a designation may also be black backs that just haven't been sent in for reholdering since they started making the distinction. Anyone know when PSA started separating red and black backs in 1952 Topps?

Great info, John. Thank you very much, your link will come in handy.
I found this one while digging further, and although I've likely read it before, being as I was likely bombarding myself with info, the info didn't really stick.
It is/was based back in 97 so likely some of the info has changed quite a bit since then, however?
https://www.psacard.com/articles/art...-ever-produced

That card probably pulls a 4 if graded by today's standards. I don't see a half grade at all, and psa doesn't give half grades anywhere near as much as whole grades.

A great article about 1952's can be found at Oldbaseball.com. Written by George Vrechek.

The card that's graded an 8 or the one he showed in this thread? You have to click the link to see the 8.
There is an 8.5 in the pop report, you have to look at the 8 column and go to the second row (+ line = 1) which means there is 1 card with an 8.5. You could probably also type in the serial number on the front page of PSA to see that it's got one higher, as well.

*double post*

Thanks for the info, Lou.

I found the article and it was a good read.