Approaching the 1952 Topps Set

[Brianruns10]

Originally Posted by CamaroDMD

OK, that's what I thought. Thanks for the info.

Next question, why did the first series have red or black backs? Was there a reason for the difference and why did they only have red starting with the second series?

Good question! Others here may know a definitive answer. There may have been some technical reasons for the switch, but I personally think it comes down to this being the first series of what was a pretty new experiment for Topps, doing large size, full color issues. The first series was something of a trial and error approach to the rest of the issues, which you really start to see as the whole set evolves. I think they realized the black back design just wasn't very attractive, and the two color red back was more attractive.

In fact, you'll discover quite a few changes made. In general, the portrait's color and vibrancy were improved for the red backs; the black backs tend to be more muted and pastel-like in their quality. And of course there is the (in)famous switched bios for the Sain and Page issues. They were definitely figuring things out, and were improving with each new series in the set. The portraits get better, they widened the white borders and enlarged the typeface of the player's name in the autograph box, and made a few other minor tweaks.

Study the cards enough, and you'll soon be able to identify the series by the portrait style. Series 1 are very watecolor, pastel-like in quality, and by the sixth series (the most beautiful in the set, and I think the greatest in all collecting) the portraits become really vibrant, almost impressionistic with fine detailing. It's really something to see how fast they master the craft, and go from being novices to masters by card 407