1960 Topps #520 Don Buddin SCARCE HIGH NUMBER [#j] (Red Sox)

1952 is often thought of as Topps 1st baseball card set, but it was not.
Topps issued several smaller baseball card sets prior to their huge 1952 set.
Topps buzz word was "BIGGER is BETTER" for their 1952 Topps set which Topps described as: "GIANT IN BOTH SIZE and NUMBER of CARDS" (407).

Key card in the 1952 Topps set is #311 MICKEY MANTLE. Often called Mickey Mantle's Rookie card - BUT IT IS NOT. That honor goes to his 1951 Bowman.
1952 Topps "High Numbers" (#311-#407), are very, very scarce with an interesting story:
This HUGE set was released in series weeks apart. By the last (6th) series, baseball season was over and football starting. Candy shops had plenty of baseball cards from earlier series so most cancelled their orders for the last series creating the scarcity.

Adding interest is how Topps disposed of the now un-needed cards including THOUSANDS of 1952 Topps MICKEY MANTLE's. They dumped them into the Atlantic Ocean like most of New York's trash in those days.

The 1953 Topps set is a collection of gorgeous portraits drawn by the leading sports artists of the day. Key cards in the 1953 Topps set include: Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays & Satchel Paige. Satchel Paige had his name spelled incorrectly (2 'L') on the card front.

As with all Topps sets from the 1950's & 1960's, 1953 Topps was issued in series, (#1-85, #86-165, #166-220 & #221-280) with the final series "High Numbers" the least produced, least available and thus the most costly. Topps and Bowman still at war likely accounts for the 6 missing #'s from the High Number series.

The 792 card 1991 Topps Desert Shield Baseball card set was issued by Topps for the soldiers serving in the Gulf War. The Desert Shield set is a variation of Topps regular 1991 baseball card with each card having a special gold-foiled 'Desert Shield' stamp added to the front. Many of the cards, scooped up by military personnel stateside, never made it overseas. The equivalent of approx 6,500 sets of cards were made. Cards are still sought after and fairly scarce with complete sets nearly impossible to find. Be aware of counterfeits. Fakes can easily be determined by comparing the gold foil logo with a real Desert Shield card.

The Chipper Jones rookie is the key card in the set along with the usual super stars like Nolan Ryan, Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken ...