1952 topps house gray/yellow

[SMPEP]

Hi Al,

Well, in my opinion ... the grey back/yellow tiger House ends all debate about whether the grey backs are officially part of the 1952 topps set. You wouldn't have this exact variation on both white/cream and grey bakcs unless they were printed at the same time/place.

What is most interesting is that the House appears with both variations (I do not believe the third cream/white back variatuion will ever be found for the grey backs) in both grey and white/cream backs. Meaning ... that they ran at least one grey sheet (maybe 2 sheets - but I doubt more than that) with the all yellow tiger logo (presumably the very first or the last third series sheet printed) ... then changed to run it with a cream/white back set of sheets with the House yellow logo .... then noticed the logo error and corrected it ... and then ran several more grey back sheets (a minimum of 5 sheets - but more likely 10-15) ... and then switched AGAIN back to the house regular logo cream/white version. These last two steps could be reversed in order, and maybe make even more sense if reversed since the somewhere in this mix (presumably in the middle) is the partial yellow tigerlogo. Obviously the all yellow logo could have been the start or end of the third series run - but I think the start of the run makes more sense as you would correct that error, not cause that error.

So that makes this very obviously an error they caught and corrected.

It's interesting that they ran grey back sheets at two different times in the third series print run though. It made sense that the grey backs were a one time glitch/varaition cause because of paper shorttages ... but they ran the grey backs on two different occassions.

It's hard to come up with a logical reason why they would have created the grey back versions on both ends of this process - unless they did it intentionally. It's logical to think they started the run with grey paper because they had it from the second series run. It's logical to think they had it at the end because of the 4th series run. But it's a harder argument to believe that they used the two different paper versions at both the end AND beginning of the run, just by chance - rather than they did this intentionally so they could create this variation. That's the only story I can come up with that fits the facts.

Still much more to be discovered on this set. [And I'll share what I have learned about the printing process more fully once I get my grey back Reiser. If that ever happens!]

Cheers,
Patrick

Ps - Sorry if the "paying attention" comment was obnoxious! Wasn't my intent, but in retrospect, it's a poor phrase on my part. I just was saying there was a photographed card of it since the 2006 Mile High Auction, so I was surprised it has never gained the notoriety it should have until now.