Posted By:
PaulI saw that card on ebay and it looked ok to me. But the best way to assure yourself of authenticity (and probably what the seller had in mind) would be for you to send it to a grading company, such as SGC, PSA, or GAI. (Others on this board can tell you their websites or you can do a Yahoo search). A lot of people have had complaints about the ability of these companies to authenticate extremely rare hundred-year-old cards, but they should all do fine with a 1952 Topps.
They all grade on a scale of 1-10 or 10-100, with the lower numbers being more beat up. It is possible that the pencil marks on your card are so severe that they will not assign it even the lowest grade. For this reason, you may want to specify that you will accept the grade of "authentic" if they are unwilling to give the card a numerical grade. This grade is reserved for cards that are real, but have damage so significant that they will not assign it a numerical grade. Some grading companies only give the "authentic" grade when asked. Otherwise, they just return the card to you ungraded.