Ok, my honest answer? I'd have gone outside and looked for another nickel, so I could buy a pack of both! 
I love the early 50s Topps cards. But to me, the '53 Bowman Color set belongs in the pantheon of all-time great baseball card sets. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. More is less. Too many baseball cards (especially today) clutter cards with unnecessary information, logos, etc.
The '53 Bowman Color set didn't do that. I don't need to see "Eddie Mathews" name to know the guy I'm looking at is Eddie Mathews. If it's somebody I don't know, I can flip the card over. But for the greats of the game that played in the early to mid 50s, there's no bigger treat than to see them in their natural setting. The photography in that set was so beautiful. No set since then has surpassed it in sheer visual appeal.
When I think of the most beautiful sets, I think of the T206 set, Turkey Red, '14 and '15 Cracker Jack, '33 and '34 Goudey, and the 1953 Bowman Color. There are other great sets, but those are, for me, the very pinnacle.
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Building these sets: T206, 1953 Bowman Color, 1975 Topps.
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