During its decade-long tenure, the American Football League managed to secure a bubble gum card contract but it also landed a deal with an ice cream company that yielded one of the rarest football card issues of the post-War era. The 1969 Eskimo Pie football card set remains a bit of a mystery even now. The set included 15 two-card panels for a total of 30 … [Read more...]
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1959 Bazooka Football Set Includes Greats, Extreme Scarities
It doesn’t often come up when the rarest post-War sports card sets are discussed but it probably should. It’s also one of the best-looking sets Topps ever produced. The 1959 Bazooka football card set was issued within months, possibly weeks, of the company’s initial Bazooka box set that featured baseball players. The baseball issue spawned several more years’ … [Read more...]
1978 Slim Jim NFL Disc Set Kept Collectors Chewing
Your memories of them may include Randy “Macho Man” Savage or another pro wrestler exhorting you to “Step into a Slim Jim!” You may have recently eaten one (ConAgra sold about $575 million worth last year). For football card collectors, it’s a ride back to the 1978 Slim Jim football disc set, a one-and-done issue that turned folks who’d never tasted one before into … [Read more...]
1952 Bowman Large Football is a Vintage Card Classic
The names may not be familiar to fans of today's game but for those who appreciate vintage cards, the 1952 Bowman Large football set has everything a collector could possibly want: a brightly colored design, a 144-card roster filled with Hall of Famers, rookies and veterans, and a larger, 2½ inch-by-3¾-inch size that enhances the card’s eye appeal. 1952 … [Read more...]
1948 Bowman Football a Landmark Issue
1948 Bowmanis the granddaddy of all football sets. It’s a set that has a stark, black-and-white look that is perfect for the post World War II era. One might say it coincides with the expansion of television sets, only this football set did not require rabbit ears. 1948 Bowman Football Rookies and Hall of Famers Collectors believe this is the first true football set of the … [Read more...]
1967 Topps Football Was Final AFL Only Set
The 1967 Topps football set meshed perfectly with the Summer of Love that year. While this was Topps’ final AFL-only set, the psychedelic design appealed to many collectors. Even the nickel wax packs had an artsy, hippie-like look to them. There were not many big names in this set, although the most expensive cards are quarterbacks Joe Namath and Jack Kemp. Future Hall of … [Read more...]
1962 Topps Football Easy to Collect; Tough in High Grade
Utilizing a horizontal design for the first time since 1957, the 1962 Topps football set gave future collectors of high grade cards some big headaches. The cause for discomfort are the unique but ultra-condition sensitive black borders, which were easily chipped and scuffed. Topps would employ the same strategy for the black backgrounds for its 1971 baseball set, with … [Read more...]
1961 Topps Football Set Included Stars of Both Leagues
It took several years before the National Football League would acknowledge the upstart American Football League, but Topps saw an immediate chance to cash in. Fleer produced an AFL set in 1960, but in ’61 Topps marketed a 198-card set with players from both leagues. Fleer followed suit, and 1961 was the only season where two companies produced cards from both leagues. The … [Read more...]
1955 Was Swan Song for Bowman Football
Bowman put out its largest football set in 1955, with 160 cards. It would be the final year that the Bowman brand would compete with Topps for dominance in the market; Topps would buy out Bowman in 1956 and would not release a football product with the Bowman name on it again until 1991. There were only 12 teams in the NFL in 1955, and the New York Giants have the … [Read more...]
1963 Was a Watershed Year for Topps Football
They didn’t know it at the time, but the 1963 Topps football set would be the company’s last depicting NFL players until 1968. The Philadelphia Gum company would swoop in for the 1964 season and grab exclusive licensing through 1967. Like the 1962 Topps set, the ’63 version included only NFL players while Fleer enjoyed an AFL exclusive. At 170 cards, the 1963 set was six … [Read more...]
