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You are here: Home / Sports Card News / Vintage Sports Card News / Vintage Pack Facts: 1961 Topps Football

Vintage Pack Facts: 1961 Topps Football

October 9, 2019 By Rich Mueller

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 Pack Facts takes us back to the fall of 1961 when Topps had a rival company to deal with.

Unopened 1961 Topps football box
1961 Topps football box (Mile High Card Co.).
1961 Topps football wax box (Mile High Card Co.)
1961 Topps five-cent football wrapper with Bazooka ad on back.
1961 Topps football 5-cent wrapper with cloth emblem sticker promo on side.
1961 Topps 1-cent wax pack (Heritage Auctions).
1961 Topps football cello pack.
Back of 1961 Topps football cello pack with sticker insert on back.
1961 Topps vending boxes (Lelands).
  • There was some fierce competition for nickels between Fleer and Topps as the 1961 pro football training camps got underway.  Fleer produced a 220-card set that included team logos on the front of its cards while Topps settled for a generic-looking set of 198.  Each company broke its set into two series.
  • Topps produced both penny and nickel wax packs in 1961.  The one-cent packs had a single card and stick of gum while the five-cent packs (24 per box) were geared more toward kids who were interested in the cards.  Today, the one-cent wrappers are far more scarce.
  • Topps also produced 10-cent cello packs and vending cases.  Both are extremely scarce today. In 2017, a cello pack sold for $960 through Robert Edward Auctions.
  • Each nickel and dime pack included a “cloth emblem” insert.  Known today as “flocked” stickers, they included both NFL and AFL teams.  The stickers were touted both on the box and the side panel of five-cent wrappers.
  • A 1961 Topps football wax box was part of the famous find of unopened material consigned to Mile High Card Company in 2017.  The pristine box, with the company’s advertising insert to dealers still sitting on top (a free pencil offer), sold for $118,496.  No other ’61 Topps football boxes have come to public auction in recent years.
  • No unopened ’61 Topps football vending boxes have come to market either.  However, in 2018, Lelands sold two partial high number vending boxes with about 750 cards total, for $3,112.
  • 1961 Topps football wrappers and empty display boxes are available on eBay.

You can participate in a pack, box, or set break anytime at VintageBreaks.com which offers a variety of options across all years and sports.

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Related Stories:

Vintage Pack Facts: 1980-81 O-Pee-Chee Hockey Vintage Pack Facts: 1967 Philadelphia Football Vintage Pack Facts: 1959 Topps Football Vintage Pack Facts: 1968 Topps Football Vintage Pack Facts: 1976 Topps Baseball Vintage Pack Facts: 1973-74 Topps Basketball Vintage Pack Facts: 1975 Topps Football Vintage Pack Facts: 1971 Topps Baseball Wax

About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for over 40 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected].

Filed Under: Vintage Pack Facts, Vintage Sports Card News Tagged With: 1961 topps football, Vintage Pack Facts

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