any guess on how many 52 mantles exist??

[midmo]

There's still tons of raw stuff out there. How much, who knows. I have a friend with a pretty nice 52 Mantle that has had it since the 70's, ungraded and doesn't need to sell it. There are still plenty of old school set collectors with cards in binders. I don't have the 52 set, but I do have nice 53, 54 and 56 sets in binders with no desire to grade them. A co-worker once brought in a shoebox of Leaf cards to show me (multiple Ruths, Robinsons, Williams, Musials, etc.) that he inherited from his grandpa. They were sentimental to him so he didn't want to sell any. I know a local show dealer that sells only raw cards (pre-war to 50's). He doesn't like computers so I guess all his inventory is "unknown to the hobby". These examples are just in my little bubble so there has to be a lot more out there...