Hi Ted,
No personal experience of opening 53s and pulling 52s but I did find this post below very interesting as well as the two comments.
Seems like Topps used a blue and red wrapper for high numbers for 1952 and then made a few changes and used them for 1953 5 cent packs. Certainly would seem possible that 52 highs could have been included in the early series for 53 given the wrapper tie between the two years.
http://www.thetoppsarchives.com/2010...rapped-up.html
Chase