1952 Topps Ad
 

I saw this on Twitter today and thought it was pretty cool. I don't know anything about the origin, etc. but, as a 1952 collector, I thought it was worth sharing.

That is cool!

Thanks for sharing. :)

Interesting Mantle is a highlight on the ad after just the 51 season.

Good point. All of the players mentioned are from NY teams. Probably a local NY ad. In this ad, Mantle would probably be mentioned (even as a 2nd year player) because he was a Yankee. Just a theory.

That was my first thought as well. But this ad seems to be for the high series, (right everybody?) which means it came out later in the year. So maybe as the '52 season progressed, he was becoming more and more well known in the baseball world?

Absolutely correct. By Spring 1953, the first Mantle biography, written by Ben Epstein, was already published after only two seasons.

Authentic?
 

Something about this doesn't look authentic to the period. The typography is very clean and precise for the era. And the font family, Franklin Gothic, wasn't commonly used by Topps during that time.

I'm not calling this out as a fake, but I have a healthy dose of skepticism without more info about it's origin.

I'm not an expert, but when I saw the list of names it also made me wonder if it was a fantasy piece.

Looks suspiciously modern to me...


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Not really unusual....the 5 players listed (Jackie, Mickey, Campy, Bobby and Pee Wee) are all Hi # cards. I collected these cards
as a kid, and these cards were not available until the Fall of 1952.

Mantle was having a great season in 1952. By the Summer of 1952, Mickey was becoming the most popular player in Baseball.


TED Z
.

Thanks for that insight, Ted

I vote for a 2017 fantasy repro ad. I don't recall packs coming in what looks from the picture like a little box, similar to the '86 Donruss extended rookies.

I got a scan of this from John Moran several years ago. He may know the origin.

I can't link it yet as the catalog is still in preview mode but lot 1216 in the new REA auction has a copy of the advert, looks like five known.

It looks to me like an image of a waxpack, but I guess it could be a box, as well. However, I was under the impression that the high numbers only came in five cent packs, whereas the ad pack has no price and states "picture card." So, maybe that argues more for a recent repro than a genuine '52 advert.

Anything's possible these days,but based upon who sent me the scan of one originally and the REA listing, I can't see how it's fake. Topps used subway and bus ads in NYC in this era as part of their marketing campaigns and similar ads for other products are known.

It depicts a pack, just a very clunky one. I agree there were no penny pack high number (blue and red) wrappers so it's really just artistic license I guess. I wonder if the penny packs for the highs were just the regular red and green ones?

It reads it is a "Extremely rare 1952 Topps advertising poster with Jackie Robinson and Mickey Mantle"

I was hoping I could copy and paste the link/pg but it just takes me back to the start.

Looks legit to me, and I would assume it is if it is up for auction at REA.
(unbelievable eye candy in that catalog!!)
http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/about/catalog.php