1952 Topps 1-310, is it considered complete?

[GoldenAge50s]

Originally Posted by Volod

Say, Fred - If you don't mind my asking, what town(s) in WNY and, if you can recall, what retailers were you looking in for 1952 Topps cards? It is of some interest to me, because, as a tyke, I never could find 1952 Topps cards in any of the stores in my old hometown of Auburn, NY. Plenty of Bowman, but the only '52 Topps I saw were in the collections of obnoxious little rich kids who were able to trek to NYC to do their gumcard shopping.

Hi Steve---

I grew up in Attica ('46-'53) & moved to the Southern Tier (Wellsville) in 1953 thru HS in 1958. I looked for & bought cards from Buffalo to Wellsville & small towns in between. Most cards were found in Mom & Pop grocery/variety stores, drugstores like Rexall or independents & the "Five & Dime" stores (JJ Newberry, Woolworth, Kresge's)

When we went on summer vacations I looked for cards (Exhibits in machines in Atlantic City on the Boardwalk, Bowmans in their home in Philadelphia, various places in NY City, stores in Florida, etc, etc.

Every place had Bowman & I found Red & Blue Back & Connie Mack Topps in
1951 & in '52 Topps were just about everywhere too, but NEVER did I find any ABOVE #250! Didn't even know they existed until years later!

By 1953 Topps were easier to find & I put the whole set together w/ no problem! (Still have them!)

Over the yrs I have heard that '52 Highs were found often in Canada, but they sure never trickled down to the Buffalo/WNY area!

[Volod]

Originally Posted by GoldenAge50s

Every place had Bowman & I found Red & Blue Back & Connie Mack Topps in
1951 & in '52 Topps were just about everywhere too, but NEVER did I find any ABOVE #250! Didn't even know they existed until years later!

By 1953 Topps were easier to find & I put the whole set together w/ no problem! (Still have them!)

Over the yrs I have heard that '52 Highs were found often in Canada, but they sure never trickled down to the Buffalo/WNY area!

Thanks for the info, Fred - I also was flummoxed by the absence of Topps cards in my town. After seeing some '52's in other kids possession, usually drastically trimmed to match the size of the Bowman issue that year, I embarked on a search of all the mom & pops and downtown department stores, trying to find them, but could not. Like you, i had no difficulty finding Topps 1951 (except for the Blue issues) and 1953 sets, but it seems that the '52's had very spotty distribution in upstate NY. It wasn't until i began collecting again in the early '80's that i put together a complete set, which, like any other set, has to be the full number of cards, but not necessarily the variations, in my view.

[autograf]

I did 1-310 with 1-80 in BOTH red and black. And I have 23 high numbers. I love them but it'll never be complete till all 407 #'s are represented. Will I get there? I hope....someday. Love the set. Just did that in the last year and a half or so.

[SMPEP]

In my book ... not a full set until you have the grey backs ... and I'd trade my high numbers all day long for grey backs.

Now if I could only find those grey backs!!!

Patrick

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by SMPEP

In my book ... not a full set until you have the grey backs ... and I'd trade my high numbers all day long for grey backs.

You can put the "normal set" together any day of the week 1-407!

Now a signed set, THAT is even rarer than the gray backs...

[ALR-bishop]

Now you guys are into master set land. See if you can find hobby agreement on what actually constitutes a master or super 1952 set.

[Paul S]

I stopped when I couldn't figure out the difference between grey and gray