Archive for the 'Trading Cards' Category

The Empire Strikes Back Trading Cards and Collecting Box (Topps, 1980)

Published August 6, 2015 Star Wars (Original Trilogy) , Trading Cards 1 Comment

ESB-1

ESB-2

First time I’ve seen this particular package and the “collecting box.” What’s wrong with a rubber band or a shoebox?

For many consecutive weekends in 1980 a neighbor girl and I would walk to the local liquor store and buy as many of the ESB packs as we could afford. During the week I would comb the house and the car for loose change, squirrel away what I was supposed to be using for milk at school, rake through hundreds of pay phone slots, try to sell old football cards. I had most of series one (red border) and series two (blue border), but I don’t think I had any of series three (yellow border).

You can see all the series one cards, as well as a whole bunch of classic card and geek ephemera, at jeffliebig‘s Flickr.

(Images via eBay)

V Trading Cards and Stickers (Fleer, 1984)

Published June 29, 2015 '80s Movies/TV , Trading Cards , V (TV Series) 1 Comment

V-9

V-2

V-1

V-3

V-4

V-5

V-6

V-7

Is anyone else super amused by the word “Peel” on the featured sticker?

Custom Canvas Art Prints: Batman, Star Trek, Star Wars, and More

Published December 16, 2013 Batman , Board Games/Tabletop Games , Star Trek , Star Wars (Original Trilogy) , Trading Cards Leave a Comment

Batman Print

Star Trek Print

Star Wars Print

Voyage Print

It’s probably too late for Christmas, but damn, these are really nice. The images have been digitally recreated by Greg at the Retro Art Blog based on original trading card wrappers, View-Master covers, classic board game covers, classic model covers, and so on. Above is a  small sampling. See the rest at his eBay store, Retro Art Stuff.

Sizes vary depending on what’s being reproduced: board game canvases will look like board games, and trading card canvases will look like a (giant!) pack of trading cards. All of the prints above are 16″ x 20″.  The killer Spock print is based on the cover of an old AMT model kit.

Greg’s also on Facebook.

Leaf and Topps Star Trek Trading Cards (1967, 1976)

Published August 9, 2013 Star Trek , Trading Cards 3 Comments

ST Cards 1967

Star Trek Cards 1967

Star Trek Cards 1967-2

 

 

 

ST Cards 1976

ST Cards 1976-2

ST Cards 1976-3

ST Cards 1976-4

ST Cards 1976-5

ST Cards 1976-6

See both checklists at The Cardboard Connection. The first series is notorious for inaccuracies (Spock is a “Vulcanian,” many of the descriptions don’t match the pictured scene, etc.). Read the backs of the cards for kicks.

Boys Reading Comic Books, 1981

Published June 3, 2013 '80s Decor/Design/Fashion , Comic Books , Kids Reading Comics , Magazines/Zines , Trading Cards Leave a Comment
Boys Reading Comics 1981

Press photo: September 26, 1981

Looks like the kids are going to or coming from baseball practice. The collection they’re pulling out of the boxes is a mix of comics and magazines. The boy on the left is holding a sheet of baseball cards. I think the kid on the right might be reading Starlog.

(Photo via Big Ole Photos/eBay)

Top Trumps Spacecraft Cards

Published January 21, 2013 Battlestar Galactica , Sci-Fi/Space Art , Star Wars (Original Trilogy) , Trading Cards Leave a Comment

titlecard

backcard

combatcraftcylon

combatcraftstardestroyer

fightercolonial

planetarylunar

spacecolonycolumbus

spacecolonydeathstar

Fascinating West German cards from about 1980. I’ve seen them on eBay/UK before, and I’m assuming they were big with the Star Wars kids across the pond. The spacecraft represented are an odd mix of sci-fi and sci-almost-fact, and the descriptions are priceless.

The speed of the Yavin Interceptor, to be in service by the year 4000, is 25 km/sec, but the speed of the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle, in service as of 1972 (how about 1969, when it actually landed on the moon), is “unknown.”

The Cyclon [sic] Raider is “super-fast,” the Colonial Viper can “change direction without turning around,” the Death Star “consists of metal that has been melted to weightlessness,” etc.

See the entire 32-card set at The Pointless Museum, where I grabbed the images above.

Planet of the Apes Trading Cards (1969, 1975)

Published January 9, 2013 Planet of the Apes , Trading Cards 1 Comment

POTA Box 1969

PotA Trading Cards-4

PotA Trading Cards-5

PotA Trading Cards-6

PotA Trading Cards

PotA Trading Cards-2

PotA Trading Cards-3

PotA Trading Cards-9

PotA Trading Cards-10

The first four images are from the 1969 set. All others are from the 1975 set that came out with the release of the Planet of the Apes TV series—actually, the cards debuted after the short-lived show was cancelled (in December of 1974). Both sets were released by Topps.

My strongest memory of the Planet of the Apes movies is watching them in after-school daycare. All the kids (and a teacher or two) would huddle around the tiny TV, totally mesmerized. I would keep looking for my mom out of the corner of my eye so that when she showed up I could beg her to let me stay. The movies would play in the same slot, consecutively, throughout the week.

I’m not sure there was a greater influence on a kid’s world than syndication and having to choose between 13 channels.

Moonraker Trading Cards (1979)

Published October 9, 2012 James Bond , Moonraker , Trading Cards Leave a Comment

We all feel the same way about Moonraker: the outer space laser action was pretty righteous, but it took way too long to get there.

Battlestar Galactica Smells Like Fresh Bread

Published January 4, 2012 Battlestar Galactica , Star Wars (Original Trilogy) , Trading Cards Leave a Comment

To this day, walking down the bread aisle in the supermarket makes me happy. Back then we ate Weber’s, but my mom switched to Wonder so I could get my hands on these sweet BSG cards. It was 1978, and I was space crazy. Star Wars had come out the year before (I was 5) and changed my world. I missed The Star Wars/Wonder Bread promotion (somehow), but I did collect the Topps Star Wars (and Empire Strikes Back) cards.

A few months ago, as I was very nervously waiting for my wife to deliver our first child (a beautiful girl, 15 weeks tomorrow), I bought some cards on eBay, including a full box of unopened The Black Hole packs. (Sorry, but I love that movie.) The gum inside was pretty gross, naturally, but it smelled just fine, and it was a hell of a lot of fun opening those packs and putting together a complete set.

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