Would you feel different about 1953 Bowman B&W if....

[Volod]

Yeah, I have also wondered the same thing, so that after completing the "color" set, it was kind of a gnawing hole there that got me to finish the '53 issue by going after the B&W's. I had collected the color cards as a kid, but had never seen - or been aware of - the B&W cards because they were issued late in the year when youngsters were busy with other shenanigans. But, I doubt that numbering them as a "high number" issue would have made them more desirable in later years. Now, if Bowman had simply made them a Kodachrome final series, I think they would have become at least as sought after as the extant high numbers. The rationale usually given for the black/white set is that the color process became prohibitively expensive, but that has never seemed plausible to me. I think perhaps Bowman execs were kind of floundering around by that time and lost interest and focus to some extent.