Swell brand bubble gum is what they were really selling. It's all over the packaging of Philadelphia Chewing Gum's trading cards in the 1960s. For football card collectors, though, it's those "Philly Gum" cards that are most memorable. Nostalgia if you're old enough. Retro fun if you're not. Philadelphia Gum had wrestled the NFL trading card license away … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1971 Topps Football
Much larger sets were coming soon, but in 1971, football card collecting was the same as it had been. Two series of 263 cards and inserts. This time though, the insert was interactive: game cards and player posters that occupied hours upon hours of chilly autumn and early winter days and nights for kids around the country. The costs remained much the same … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1963 Topps Football
The Green Bay Packers had won their second straight NFL championship and then enjoy 27 picks in the draft. Jim Brown would rush for 1,863 yards in 14 games and Y.A. Tittle would toss 36 touchdown passes. The 1963 NFL season also brought some of the most colorful football cards in history. This week's edition of Vintage Pack Facts takes us back to the fall of … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1955 Bowman Baseball
The end would come soon enough but in 1955, Bowman Gum was making one last-ditch effort to try to collect as many nickels and pennies as they could from baseball card collecting kids. They came up with a design that incorporated America's new favorite evening pastime. They created a whopper of a set at 320 cards and they gave kids more cards in their packs. It wasn't … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1961 Topps Football
The checklist got bigger as Topps welcomed American Football League players into its set. It would be six more years before the New York-based card maker had the rights to make cards of players from both leagues. While the business end of football cards got a little complicated in the 1960s, the experience remained pretty much the same. This week's edition of Vintage … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1969 Topps Football
The football world was changing 50 years ago. The AFL and NFL were getting ready to merge into one big league and the New York Jets were about to emphatically state that there was little difference in the quality of play between the two. The Lombardi era was ending and a new generation was about to take over. Youngsters who spotted the new edition of … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1960 Topps Football
Topps had some competition in the football card market as the decade of the 1960s dawned. The company reported selling about 70 million football cards in 1959. There was a new league with franchises in new cities. Who knows how many kids opted for Fleer's AFL set in 1960 but Topps dropped the number of cards in its 1960 NFL set from 176 to 132. With no … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1962 Topps Baseball
Ten years after it made baseball card history with its 407-card oversize debut set, Topps had settled into a regular pattern as the sole provider of bubble gum packs that kept kids busy collecting, trading and flipping from early spring through the last gasp from the final series that arrived in the fall. This week's edition of Vintage Pack Facts takes us back to the "wood … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1980 Topps Baseball
After having the baseball card market all to themselves nearly every year since 1956, Topps enjoyed one last year as the solo option for collectors as the 1980s dawned. The world would change forever in 1981 when Fleer and Donruss came aboard. This week's edition of Vintage Pack Facts focuses on the 1980 Topps packaging--and there was plenty of it. The first … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1959 Topps Football
Sixty years ago, Topps was preparing to ship the fourth edition of its NFL trading cards to wholesalers and retailers across the country. There would be two series and 176 cards issued before the season ended, the largest football card set ever made. This week's edition of Vintage Pack Facts is focused on 1959 Topps football. Having gold with a red and … [Read more...]