Flag Day

Longtime readers here may recall that about eight years ago I took a look at the some of the later Flags of the World sets sporadically issued by Topps over more than two decades. If you refer back to that post, you will see Friend o'the Archive Lonnie Cummins had some personal experience with one of the test issues Topps created when they wanted to issue an updated version of their Giant Size, colorful and classic 1956 Flags set.  

Prior to the 1970 Flags of the World "sticker" set seeing release, they tested the concept using either reprinted or leftover cards from the 1956 set.  These were inserted into a small envelope, which was needed as the older cards were larger than the standard 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" in use at the time; there was also a piece of play money in each pack that required folding  to fit, just like the oversized inserts for the 1968 Basketball test. The currency was a new sweetener, the 1956 set did not have any inserts and Topps really didn't come around to the concept until 1960 anyway. The Flags test looks like it happened in 1969, or at least that's the best guess on timing.

Here's the envelope (ignore the numbering added after the fact by a third party and which is unrelated to any part of the test), in better resolution than the one I showed eight years ago:

Way back in 2017, Lonnie advised:

"The card numbers were for the original 1956 Flags of the World set, which were the cards contained in the envelopes. My memory is not that good, but I think I had close to 2/3rds of the complete set. They were Indistinguishable from the original '56 cards, so no good way to tell they were test cards other than I knew they came from the envelopes. My theory is Topps was actually testing the "money" insert idea, not the cards themselves, and probably used either left over proof sheets (would have only taken 2 or 3 sheets to fill a couple of boxes) they had in archive, or did a small print run from the '56 films. I guess the '70 Flags of the World cards themselves either were not in development yet or not ready for testing. Using the '56 cards, which were over-sized compared to the modern standard, is why I believe they used an envelope instead of a plain wax wrapper; their wrapping machines could not handle the larger cards.... My theory is that Topps only used the envelopes for over-sized or odd-shaped items that could not be wrapped on their machines."

Unless there's thinner 56's out there, I lean toward old overstock being used.  Even if Topps had none of the actual 1956 cards on hand, Woody Gelman's Card Collectors Company would have been able to assist with minty fresh cards. The play money did indeed look real, and was not limited to a single size either:

Flipsided:

The story, as noted by Lonnie, that the test currency was too realistic looking. Based upon this 1963 Un Guarini from Paraguay, I would have to agree, especially on the obverse:

(Real Paraguayan Currency)

Topps corrected this problem for the 1970 full retail release, as they prominently indicated NON-NEGOTIABLE on each piece of play money:

They also made it clear that, in addition to the added NON-NEGOTIABLE line, the currency was not issued by an actual country. "Triniday and Lobags" sounds like a nice place to visit though!

You can see they were each folded before pack insertion; Topps also did this with the How To Play Better Basketball inserts that came in the 1968 test Basketball envelopes. The 1970 currency is somewhat difficult to track down and I suspect it's because the wet and stick approach the the Flags set proper was not popular with the kids, resulting in poor sales. Thinking about it, why even make them stickers, let alone low-tech ones?

As always, be careful with your money!