Quote:
Originally Posted by Snapolit1
Ok. So while some 52 Mantles are marked and sold as high number cards, in reality they are all number 311 in the series and are all high number cards. Think I got it. What confused me was only some of these cards marked as high number cards.
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311 to 407 were the high number, last series to be shipped out.
They were shipped out late in the season.
Another take from PSA.
The 1952 Topps Baseball set consists of an astonishing 407 cards, each measuring 2-5/8" by 3-3/4”. The set was issued in six distinct "Series" groups, with New York area heroes Phil Rizzuto, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Monte Irvin and other Yankees, Dodgers and Giants dominating the first series, accompanied by such stars as Warren Spahn, Hank Sauer, Ted Kluszewski, and Robin Roberts. Heroes in subsequent series include Johnny Mize, Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, and Willie Mays. Series 6 emerges like a “Who's Who” of stardom, beginning with card #311, the first Topps card of Mickey Mantle, followed in succession by depictions of Jackie Robinson (#312), Bobby Thomson (#313), Roy Campanella (#314) and Leo Durocher (#315). Such players as Pee Wee Reese, Eddie Mathews and Bill Dickey, and a group of rookies highlighted by Gil McDougald, Joe Black and Hoyt Wilhelm, encouraged the purchase of baseball card packs well into autumn.
Rarities in this expansive gallery include card #s 311 Mickey Mantle through #407 Eddie Mathews. Production numbers of Series 6 of Topps' inaugural release are believed to have been short-printed and minimally distributed, as retailers anticipated a seasonal falling-off in card sales and reduced or cancelled orders. Variations, errors and oddities in 1952 Topps include each card in Series 1 (#s 1-80) being found in Black Back and Red Back configurations; two of those (#s 48 and 49, pitchers Joe Page and Johnny Sain) are the subjects of error versions wherein each man's card has the other's printed back. The card of Frank Campos (#307) comes with and without an unusual, overprinted star on the reverse, with the former very seldom encountered. Scarcities revolve around the issue of condition, particularly with the first card (#1 Andy Pafko, perhaps the most valuable common around) and the series-concluding #80 Herman Wehmeier, both of which fell victim to rubber-banding. This set is also recalled for its few star omissions: Ted Williams and Whitey Ford were both in the armed forces at the time, and Stan Musial was under contract to Bowman and couldn't appear in a competitor's product.
In 1986, an enormous cache of 1952 Topps Baseball high number cards were unearthed in Lowell, Massachusetts. Al “Mr. Mint” Rosen removed approximately 6,000 “Gem Mint” cards, including 65 Mickey Mantle (#311) rookies, from the New England home, thousands of which have since been encapsulated into PSA holders. The world-renowned auctioneer house, Sotheby’s, called the stockpile “the greatest find of baseball cards ever.” Throughout industry circles, the once in a lifetime event is often referred to as simply, “The Find.”