By Michael Osacky for Kovels.com

Sixty-five years after Topps Baseball Card Company’s iconic 407 card set, the 1952 Topps Baseball Card Set is still widely collected and highly desired.

Bowman Baseball Card Company cornered the market for baseball in the early 1950s. Topps was driving to gain market share from Bowman, but was unsure how to do it.

In devising a plan to grab market share, Topps put themselves into the shoes of the children who were going to the five-and-dime store to purchase the cards.

Topps thought the kids wanted two things: sets with more cards, and sets with larger-sized cards.

So, Topps produced 407 individual cards for the set and made each card much bigger than the Bowman counterparts. Each Topps card measured 2 5/8 by 3 3/4 inches.

The crafty decision to make a larger set in terms of both quantity and size proved to be wildly successful. Bowman’s last issue was 1955 as Topps purchased Bowman in early 1956.

The value of near-perfect condition baseball cards from the 1952 Topps set continue to increase. Many investors are now seeing cards as an asset class. Additionally, baby boomers who purchased these cards from the five-and-dime stores during their youth, only to have their moms throw out the cards later in life, are now trying to buy back their childhood memories. These men are at retirement age with disposable income. They are looking for cards of key Hall of Famers such as Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews, and Jackie Robinson. A mint card of Jackie Robinson sold for $90,000 in 2016.

It is very difficult, if not impossible, to find a mint version of the 1952 Topps Jackie Robinson.

Why such a high price for a Jackie Robinson card?

1.  Kids played with their cards in the 1950s and ’60s. There was no thought of preserving the cards for investment purposes. Many kids inserted their cards in their bicycle spokes to create noise as they rode down the street.

2.  Printing technology was very different in the 1952. Today, every card comes off the press perfectly centered. In 1952 that wasn’t possible.

3.  The 407 cards in 1952 were printed and distributed at different times during the baseball season. Card #311 (Mickey Mantle Rookie card) and card #407 (Eddie Mathews Rookie card) were distributed at the very end of the season. Most kids at this point had already spent their allowances and were now thinking about football season. Because of this, many of these last series’ of cards were never sold. Therefore, they are scarce.