Coming Into Focus

So six or seven years ago, when I was researching sets for my book, I realized that Topps had done something strange with the 1955 Hocus Focus set. It was long thought the "small" (7/8" x 1 7/16") version of this set came out that year, with the "large" (1" x 1 9/16") version issued in 1956, but Topps in fact issued both versions in 1955.  This was because the small cards came in penny tabs while the large cards came in nickel packs and were panelized, six at a clip. The reason for this double sizing remains unknown but I suspect the penny packs were a test issue of some sort, probably to see if the style of packaging was still viable (it wasn't).

Here is the evidence for both sets being a 1955 issue, one Johnny Schmitz in small:

And large.  Note the subset numbering reduction to 18 from 23 and the dotted lines on the long edges, which matched light scoring on the front to allow for breaking the panels into individual cards, the latter a sure sign of the larger version (at least one long edge of a 56 will have these lines):

So we have the same text and overall number for both, which is how the sets are configured through #96.  Schmitz actually led the Senators in staff ERA in both 1954 and 1955 (the latter was about a run higher than his stellar 2.91 mark in 54) and after I guessed they were referring to his stellar 1954 season I had found another reference on the Hal Smith card to an event in 1955 that sealed it:

Smith made his major league debut on April 11, 1955 (which dates the set after that event) and was actually NOT the top batter in the American Association that year - Johnny Bucha of the St. Paul Saints was two points higher at .352 but with only 278 Plate Appearances vs Smith's .350 with 413 PA's - but close enough.

Woody Gelman himself got the date AND set name wrong in a Card Collectors Co, catalog from ad from April 20, 1962:

That two bucks for a full uncut sheet of the small cards would have been quite the investment 57 years ago!  As Woody got the name of his own company wrong as well, we can assume typos occurred with some frequency.

While the sets shared main sequence numbering up to #96, there were 30 additional cards issued in the smaller format concluding with #126. These 30 subjects also feature a disruption in the numbering of five of the eight subsets accordingly.  At the time my book was published (July 2013) 17 of the subjects above #96 remained unknown. This extraordinary paucity of checklisted subjects among the "super high" numbers is unprecedented-there are simply no other Topps card sets with unknown subjects, although a few 40's and 50's Tatoo sets are similarly under-developed as you might imagine. Most intriguingly, another penny issue from 1955, Davy Crockett Tatoo is even rarer than Hocus Focus with only a handful of examples presently known.

In the years since, the list of unknowns has been whittled down to a mere six. That number was eleven until very recently when Brian Wentz of BMW Sportscards sent along scans of three heretofore unknown subjects and Friend o'the Archive Bill O. pointed me to scans of two others.

First up, the "BMW" find", led off by a real doozy:

Kind of hard to see the grandeur in that tiny little picture!

Another airplane has come along now as well:

That's a little better-you can even see the pilot in the cockpit.

Finally, we have some cycling action-this guy looks pretty excited:

These new subjects from BMW were found within a larger grouping of twelve of the small cards.  As I have previously noted the ratio of small to large cards seems to be about 1:40 (I may be tweaking that a little downward as I do more research but it still seems about right) so this is no small thing.

Bill O. found these two, nos. 100 & 110:

No. 110 is quite blurry as it's from a small original scan, subset number is still TBD-this is one elusive subject as previously I knew it by number only.  Slowly it reveals its secrets, this Douglas K-3

We can infer it is #12 of 15 Airplanes as the other four in the subset above #96 are known.

The numbers still lacking confirmation of their existence are: 97, 98, 108, 111, 120 & 125 with #110 being a known number now but needing some sharper focus and another subject being Lou Gehrig, number presently unknown as no back scans can be found.  I do have an old Sports Collectors Digest picture of Larrupin' Lou's obverse though, from a Scott Brockelman find around 2003:

 Sixty four years in and we still don't have 'em all nailed down!

Instruction Card

We'll shortly be moving more into the 1960's and early 70's in terms of the overall vibe of this blog but there are still many things from and about Topps in the 1940's and 50's worth posting about.  Near and dear to my heart are the postage stamps sized issues of 1948-49 and the last gasp of those little wonders, the Hocus Focus set of 1955. Still without a complete checklist for the smaller sized version some 60+ years after issue, the whole set is a bit of mystery in terms of timing and packaging, although I suspect it was retailed in response to another confectioner's offerings.

I managed to snag an image of the instruction card issued with the larger version of the set recently and it's pretty neat:

I like how you can make out the bare outlines of the World Leaders subset in panel 3.  It's a lot more detailed than most instructional drawings from Topps over the years. The card also shows signs of high speed "ribbon cutting' where strips of uncut cards were cut at high speed, resulting in a slight curl that's just off kilter.

The back is plain Jane man:

I post reverses of things even when blank to help identify potential counterfeits.

I still need an example of the blue developing paper and although I don't collect wrappers per se, I do collect the penny wrappers from these tiny little issues.

I bought my panel from Larry Serota, known to many in the hobby as a collector of many hard-to-find cards. Larry also had a number of auctions going on eBay with small and large groupings from the set.  Here are some undeveloped and uncut panels of the large sized cards, as inserted in the nickel packs, showing how panels of four plus three came packaged, although I have seen some that may be only "twos" (hard to tell this long after the fact):

It's one of those sets where the backs look nicer than the fronts!

As previously noted on the blog, the small cards do not show signs of perforations or dotted lines as they were inserted as singles in the penny gum tab packs.

As I stated above, I'll be focusing more on the 60's and 70's going forward but will still, of course, post anything worthwhile from the earlier decades of Topps as items come to my attention.

In Focus

Long time collector and Friend o'the Archive Larry Serota provided a bit of an early Christmas present recently, although as this posts we are one day past the holiday.  Larry was auctioning a lot of the small Topps Hocus Focus cards and was kind enough to fill in a few blanks in the checklist.

To recap, Hocus Focus was issued in two sizes, one measuring 7/8" x 1 7/16" (referred to as small) and one that was 1" x 1 9/16" (known as large), in 1955. While many old hobby guides have commingled the two checklists over the years, they share 96 subjects, with the small set adding an additional 30 that are not found in the large; numbers 1-96 are shown on the reverses of both sizes in a black circle and this numbering is the same in either size.

What can differ is the subset numbering as Topps created eight subsets for the issue: Airplanes, Baseball Stars, Movie Stars, Sports Cars, Sports Thrills, Westerners, World Leaders, and World Wonders. Only the Movie Stars, Sports Cars and World Leaders have the same subset count in both sizes. Topps increased the Airplanes, Baseball Stars, Sports Thrills and World Wonders subsets by five and added ten to the World Leaders to wedge the additional 30 card "high numbers" into the small set.

These "highs" were certainly issued at the same time as the "lows", given the likely 126 count array of the uncut sheet (18 x 7, matching Magic Photo of 1948-49 vintage). The subsets were not sequentially numbered, which was an early marketing trick employed by Topps before set checklists were issued in the packs. Small cards only came inserted in penny gum tabs while the large cards were lightly perforated (with dashes on the reverse as well) and sold in strips (I believe) of four plus three (or possibly two sometimes) cards in nickel packs, six cards per pack. Large cards should show signs of perforation/dashes on one or two of the long sides, which is a handy way to tell what size is being offered in auction and sale lots that have no other indication.

Larry recently offered 18 of these on eBay and was able to confirm the identities of 7 additional smalls above #96:

102 Paracutin
104 Vought Regulus
106 Douglas Nike
107 Basketball
115 Alexander Graham Bell
116 Kid Gavilan
123 Jefferson Davis

It's a bit odd Davis was considered a World Leader!  Here is a picture of the lot:

Despite Larry's checklist contributions, a number of subjects between 97 and 126 remain unknown. Still missing are a subject for #110 (its existence is known from an old auction) and anything at all about numbers 97, 98, 100, 101, 108, 109, 111, 117, 119, 120, 122, 124 & 125. I can't think of too many Topps sets with holes in their checklists at this point and certainly none that are cards (Topps issued a few sets of things in the 60's and 70's that were more toys than cards and some are not fully documented).

Also missing is #17 of the 20 Sports Thrills subset from the small high numbers. Here is #116, which is clearly #19 of that 20 card subset, the newly "discovered" card of Kid Gavilan, courtesy of Friend o'the Archive Adam Warshaw:

If you collect boxing cards, you should check out Adam's site and related book, America's Great Boxing Cards.

In terms of dating, LarrySerota also noted Ted Kluszewski's card mentions his 49 Home Runs from the year prior, which was 1954.  Coupled with some other text and photographic details, plus the small wrapper copyright date, Hocus Focus is clearly a 1955 issue.  Many guides refer to the smalls as being issued in 1955 and the large cards in 1956 but as the reverse text does not differ between sizes among the first 96, this is clearly not so. I still think Hocus Focus was a bit of a somewhat large and loosely-controlled test issue by Topps given the size and price differences, not to mention the retro packaging and design.

Extreme Focus

Your webmaster managed to snag a couple of scans, albeit not the card, of what I believe to be the final card in the "small" 1955 Hocus Focus set.  As we have seen here previously, this set was issued in 1955 in two different sizes and lengths.  The larger cards have 96 in the set, the smaller ones go to what has been a vague number but generally thought to be 121 or 126. As faithful readers of this site know, 126 is the likely ending point.  Thanks to eBay we now have a picture of #126.

Yes, what youngster in 1955 did not want a card of Louis Pasteur?!

It's a little light but I would have been happy to take it.  Alas, I was too late!  Here is the all important back though:

I still need to see a representative card back from some of the subsets in the small issue but I am convinced the set goes to and ends at #126 now. Even as things get to that point, there are still holes in the checklist above #96. Crazy!

Presto!

Those little Topps cards that used to come inserted between the inner and outer wraps of Topps gum in the late 40's through mid 50's have always been a subject I enjoy researching, as relatively little is known about them compared to their more grown-up siblings. This lack of scrutiny has left us with some confusion that is carried over this day into the various guide books and tales told between grizzled old hobby veterans. One such area of confusion applies to the 1948/49 Magic Photos and 1955/56 Hocus Focus issues as there are many similarities between the two sets.

The 1948/49 Magic Photos were one of the first Topps issues and they met with huge success and can be found pretty easily even now, some sixty plus years after they first appeared. The idea was to spit on or otherwise moisten the front of the card and then rub it against the wrapper which contained some (hopefully) benign "developing" chemicals. Sunlight probably aided the process as well.

Magic Photos appeared in 1948 and were issued in two 126 card series. There were subsets within each and these used letter suffixes for identification. Here is my Connie Mack, which is actually atypical as there is no visible lettering on the front:



Here is Rogers Hornsby in a scan I nailed from Ebay showing how the lettering generally looks as I think it's washed out in the white background of the Mack card:



The back is informative:



You can see Baseball Hall of Fame is a 19 card subset designated "K" by Topps. The different subsets are:

A Boxing Champions
B All American Basketball
C All American Football
D Wrestling Champions
E Track and Field Champions
F Stars of Stage And Screen
G American Dogs
H General Sports

(Series I not used, likely to avoid confusion).

J Movie Stars
K Baseball Hall Of Fame
L Aviation Pioneers
M Famous Landmarks
N American Inventors
O American Military Leaders
P American Explorers
Q Basketball Thrills
R Football Thrills
S Figures Of The Wild West
T General Sports

As you can see, there is some repitition between the first and second groups, which are conveniently bisected by the missing "I" into the two main 126 card series. Some subsets have as few as two or as many as 25 cards. At least one variation is known and the Wrestlers and a few others may have been issued as part of another promotion, not of Topps doing, with alternate backs and Topps may have just licensed the photos they used in the set. Here is an uncut sheet of 126:



The Album is hard to find:



Despite the scroll listing the subsets on front, it was the same for each of the two series, although the interiors were different. Here is a fuzzly look at the interior cover:



And here is an album page, partially filled:



I cannot say who owns that album and I found those shots on Ebay.

You could buy Magic Photos with Hocus Focus gum (another source of confusion) and it was available in penny or nickel packs. The penny pack has a 1948 copyright and a wax interior wrapper. The card was sandwiched between the outer and inner wrapper:



I believe that is Jeff Shepherd's pack. The nickel wrapper is very, very rare and there was a strip of 6 Magic Photos within. I am not sure if the strips were perforated or merely scored, I suspect the latter but I have never seen an intact one and can't say for certain. The only picture I have ever seen is from Volume 2 of Chris Benjamin's Sport Americana Price Guide to the Non-Sports Cards 1930-1960 (Edgewater Book Company, 1993):



The "In Color" teaser applies to the gum, not the cards! Note the offer for the album on the wrapper.

Take a good look at that back of the Connie Mack as it's the easiest way to tell the Magic Photos apart from their descendants in 1955/56. "See Directions Inside Wrap" indicates it's a Magic Photo but in 1955 Hocus Focus came out and muddied the waters.

Here is a Hocus Focus, front and back:



As you can see, it clearly states "Hocus Focus" on the back and that is the big difference between the sets-Magic Photos will NEVER say this. Hocus Focus also have the black circle with overall number of the card in the set in the lower right corner of the reverse, in addition to any subset numbering.

That is a "small" Hocus Focus, which came in penny packs and are unbelievably rare. The "large" ones came in strip of four that were perforated (and obviously so). The small cards have no perforated edges, the large one have either one or two perforated sides:



I'll get into sizes soon on all of these but here is a comparison of small and large Hocus Focus cards:



The penny pack has a wrapper identiccal to the '48 penny wrapper but with a 1955 copyright:


(Courtesy of Todd Riley)

The inner wrap is foil at this point, not wax. The chemicals were on the interior of the exterior wrapper, unlike the nickel packs which had their own, separate developing paper. Here is the nickel wrapper:



No album exists for the Hocus Focus cards and they probably sold poorly as these were the last of this breed of card issued by Topps.

People usually refer to the smaller cards as 55's and the larger ones as 56's but they came out at the same time as this old Woody Gelman notebook page shows:



Small cards are often identified as being issued in 1955 and the larger ones in 1956 but you can see that they were co-mingled on the page. That page might belong to Bobby Burrell, I can't quite remember but this cache of uncut strips is his for sure:



The Hocus Focus checklists are a mess and intertwined in many publications. The larger cards have 96 subjects while the small ones theoretically have 121 although I think up to 131 is possible due to how the subsets are structured. Not all small cards are even known at this juncture and the larger ones are probably all identified but since the lists are out of whack, I am visually confirming each larger card (abou 20 to go). I've given up on the smaller ones, I only have about five confirmed visually right now.

The larger cards have the following subsets:

Westerners (11 cards)
World Wonders (10)
Sports Thrills (15)
Baseball Stars (18)
Airplanes (10)
Sports Cars (10)
Movie Stars (7)
World Leaders (15)

That is 96 cards folks!

Now, the small cards have a subset of 23 Baseball Stars and 15 Airplanes, so if each subset is five greater than found in the large cards, we would have 136 cards total but most guides say 121, although I have to think 126 is also possible due to the size of the two Magic Photos main series, the fact the Magic Photos and small Hocus Focus cards have the same measurements (see next paragraph) and the array on the Magic Photos uncut sheet.

Sizing is the same for the Magic Photos, no matter which way they were sold and they measure 7/8" x 1 7/16" while the small Hocus Focus cards are also 7/8" x 1 7/16" and the large cards are 1" x 1 5/8".

Send me a note if you have front and back scans of any small Hocus Focus cards. I also need front and back scans of these large Hocus Focus Cards: 2 8 9 11 16 26 32 34 40 41 43 48 56 57 60 67 76 79 95.