1953 Sets

Wayne8348

I have a question that was asked of me and I have never collected cards from the 1950's so maybe someone here with more experience can help me answer it. The question was what are some of the advantages or disadvantages of collecting the 53 topps vs. 53 bowman color? Is one set more popular or more readily available in high grade than the other? Will one probably be a better investment than the other? Thanks for you help.

wayne

qualitycards

Wayne, its really a matter of prefrence. In my opinion, you can't lose either way, both are classic vintage sets that are approaching 50 years old. The smr is almost identical in 8's $67,965 for Bowman & $64,525 for Topps. Topps has 50% more cards 274 to 160. Both sets have Mantle, I say, collect them both....jay

bosoxphan

Yeah, it's really a personal choice, both are classic sets. One has the best photography of any set ever produced while the other has beautiful portrait artwork. The 53 Bowman set is missing the Willie Mays card which the Topps set does have. The 53 Topps set is also a much larger set by over 100 cards. In terms of diffficulty, they're both pretty comparable.

helionaut

In my admittedly limited experience, I find this year more than any other to be full of pretty equal trade-offs. Topps seem to be more available overall than Bowman, but the colored section of the border makes good specimens harder to find. Topps has Mays, but Bowman has the memorable Musial card. Topps has Satchell Paige and Jackie Robinson, Bowman has the extra Mantle/Berra/Bauer card and a couple smaller stars like Richie Ashburn (maybe Topps wins that one). Neither has any really major RCs, and neither has Ted Williams. Bowman has the great photographic processing, Topps has , IMHO, somewhat mediocre paintings. Bowman has a relatively small 160 cards while Topps is about 70% larger. As someone else pointed out, their SMR values are about the same, which means that Bowmans will be more expensive on average than Topps. That could mean that it's a better investment, or it could mean that it's not. If it was me, I'd do the Bowman because I love the photos and the Topps paintings just never struck me. But I'd make sure to pick up a nice Mays, Paige and Robinson to complement it anyway.