Just Kidd-ing

As I was preparing the previous post here at the ol' Archives, concerning the copying of certain 19th Century artwork by Topps, particularly Indian Chiefs and Pirates, I decided not to use Captain Kidd in the comparison. However, as I was looking at the various examples of his cards, I noticed something neat.

Take a look at this N19 of Kidd, which I cribbed from Cardboard Junkie:

Now, we know form our previous post that the images from this set were used by Topps for X-Ray Roundup in 1949:

I have to say the image of the Captain hanging from the gallows is quite picturesque.....




OK so continuing on, there is a Captain Kidd card in 1952's Look 'N' See set:  

Wow-it's almost an exact match to the one from '49 but on closer inspection it's redrawn.  






Now let's look at Scoop, from 1954:

Arrggghhhh!  


I thought the chain was broken but then I looked at the flipside:

Those sneaky so-and-so's just copied the Look 'N' See picture-the background is an exact match! 




Now at this point you would think Topps was done with the captain, but n-o-o--o-o-o-o-o-o-o, he makes yet another appearance 13 years later in 1967's Who Am I?:

Sheesh!

This is actually bad news-now I will have to do a comparison not only of the 1888 Pirates of the Spanish Main set with X-Ray Roundup but of Look 'N' See to Scoop and on to Who Am I? as there are numerous subjects shared by all these sets.  Sigh.....

(Apologies again for the vertical spacing. Something strange is happening with Blogger and I can't figure out how to fix it.)

Flying High Again

This post could also be called "One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other One"!

The 1954 Topps Scoop set, a semi-classic of the mid 50's, contains 156 cards depicting famous, infamous and just plain newsworthy events spanning 3,137 years of civilization and relying upon two gimmicks. I'll not discuss the front scratch off gimmick here, odd as it is, nor the faux headline and news article gimmick concocted by Topps on the backs.  No, I want to take a look at two closely related cards from this set instead.

Card no. 66 shows an impressive feat:

As you can see a Navy jet broke the speed record (a whopping 753.4 mph) on October 29, 1953.  This was an amazing feat no doubt but less than a month later it was shattered. On November 20, 1953 a Douglass D-588-II "Skyrocket" achieved an astounding 1,327 mph, almost doubling the previous mark.

This in itself was news but what caught my attention was that Topps also commemorated the new record on card no. 139:

Why does this intrigue me?  Well, besides having two cards with the same news subject in a single set, the first record was captured in the first series of 78 cards and the more current one was memorialized in the second series  That pretty much puts production of the first series between October 29 and November 20, or maybe a little bit after.  The set is always described as being from 1954 and I would tend to agree but there is the distinct possibility series 1 came out in 1953 and series 2 in '54.

Small Scoop

Last month I promised to show a one cent pack of Scoop, provided I came across one and lo and behold friend o' the archive John Moran sent along a scan:



It's a little pixellated but clearly shows the repeating design that was a hallmark of Topps penny packs.

Two Scoops, or Three?

Topps experimented early on with scratch off features on their cards and this early dabbling led to a stellar set of cards issued in two series in 1954 called Scoop (commonly but incorrectly called "Scoops"). Using a "you are there" type newspaper article on the reverse, purchasers had to rub two thick black bars off the front of the cards to reveal a painted image related to the story on back.






Measuring 2 1/16" x 2 15/16" these little babies were quite colorful and first issued as a 78 card series. They must have sold well because a second series of 78 cards came on the heels of the initial run. With the exception of a few ballplayers and boxers plus a handful of famous historical figures cards can be had quite reasonably these days, with second series cards going for about double those in the first. We are talking single digits for nice examples of the commons, even among the high numbers so this is a great set to collect. There is, however, a big BUT involved.

As you would expect, the cards were sold in penny and nickel packs. From what I have been able to find, any card found in a penny pack had the black bars on the front. It's the nickel packs where things get freaky. The story is that the top card only in the pack had the black bands with the following printed on them:



The bars are pretty thick so maybe with a little coaxing they would peel off.

The other cards in the pack were uncoated, so the story goes:



So really there are three different versions of these cards but I do not know if all cards can be found in all three styles. I think most collectors who go after a set try for uncoated cards and then try to obtain a sample of each black bar type. I would not recommend rubbing off the bars at this point as they look and feel integral to the cardboard now.

The four baseball themed Scoop cards are:

#27 Bob Feller
#41 Babe Ruth
#130 Braves Go To Milwaukee
#154 26 Inning Tie Game

There are some boxers in the set as well that command decent but not exorbitant prices while Ruth tops them all (but is still pretty reasonable). Feller would be my choice for a baseball type (witness the one I own, above) and seems to be more plentiful than some other cards. I don't know why the second series baseball themed cards do not show individual players but it may have been due to some type of licensing squabble. The set was also issued by O-Pee-Chee in Canada, although I cannot state with certainty both series came out up north. This is a good spot to voice my long held opinion that a solid Canadian card guide is sorely needed in the hobby.

It's quite an attractive set and the photos on back are a nice touch. Here's a group that sold on Ebay a while back:



The wrapper is pretty nice too. Here is the nickel version in a scan I just swiped:



I can't find a scan of the one cent pack but it would have had a repeating design. If someone out there in Archiveland has one, send it along and I'll include it in an upcoming "catch up" post.

The current issue of The Wrapper (#244) has a piece on Sports Cards in Non Sports Sets written by friend o' the archive Bill Christensen that has the scoop on this set among others. Go grab a copy today and tell Les I sent ya!