Choke Artist

Here's a new look at an old set, 1968's Wise Ties, which I've covered in a small way previously (click on over to the labels to see). Topps was experiencing a peak right around '68 in their max experimental period that ran from roughly 1966 to 1971, with releases often fueled by ideas from the underground artists Topps was using for a lot of their new product development under Woody Gelman. These projects, informed in many cases by Pop-Art, were then illustrated for release by really talented artists like Wally Wood (one of our illustrators here) and Jack Davis. 

A number of supremely surreal sets reared their pointy little heads during this time and there aren't many more "out-there" issues than Wise Ties. Despite at least one semi-find over the years, the ties are not seen all that often, as the story is Topps pulled them from the market due to concerns that the elastic band used to secure them around the neck could be a choking hazard. Even today, given their odd dimensions and just plain weirdness, they don't get a lot of love in terms of articles or reference guide action. So I thought a visual checklist of the set would be kinda groovy, with scans provided by Friend o'the Archive Jeff Pace. And without further ado:

         

A word to the wise....these are really cool!

Fit To Be Tied

Well gang, the parade of Topps product keeps rolling in to the ol' research complex, populating my type checklist at a fairly steady pace, although I'm at the point I am hauling in mostly tougher or oddball items that don't appear all that often.  Today's entry is 1968's Wise Ties.

I've discussed them here previously, and shown the pack version of the checklist here but this is the first time I've had one in hand that's not in a pack still. It's quite colorful in person:

I was wrong years ago when I wrote they might be made of thin plastic.  They are made of a kind of crepe-like felt or, more likely pressed cloth, and measure 9 1/2" from top to tip.  The band is elastic and still quite pliable on my example.  I suspect, now that I have seen it, that the elastic band is what caused them to be pulled from the market, 12 shy of the planned 24 ties. The retail box holds 12 ties and much of the unopened material in the hobby of the set must come from overstock and returns.

The material used is very thin and light, call it semi-transparent:

Here's a closeup of the reverse of the "knot", I know you can get nice suits made cheaply in Hong Kong but crepe-like ties?

Topps had zillions of similar style sets in the 60's and early 70's, likely the result of so many Mad Magazine and underground comix artists working there. I would love to see what the twelve  unissued ties look like.  In fact, I am trying to come up with the most efficient way to get images of all the really weird and odd sized Topps NS sets of the classic era documented as so many are practically unknown and/or hard to scan.  Stay tuned...

Tying One On

OK, I am really punking out today and this will be a short post.  I am in the middle of putting together some more data on the 1953-54 World On Wheels set but it's gotten convoluted and won't be ready for few more days.  Instead I want to take a peek at the back of a pack, name 1968 Wise Ties, already covered here previously.

I purchased an unopened pack and was going to slice it open at a flap but thought better of it as the passage of 43 years has not weakened the glue one bit on this sucker:

Not only do you get a full checklist of ties on back, you get to see these were made in Hong Kong, famous for its fine haberdashers.    If you are wondering the pack measures 9 1/4 " x 3 13/16".  There is no production code, possibly due to Topps trying to import the product as a novelty or perhaps actual clothing. Actually, it's likely due to their no gum or candy being in the pack.

There have been some finds of these but I suspect mot remain sealed.  I still can't find a color scan of a tie out there in the wilds of the web.  Back atcha soon with some more WOW...

A Wise Tie, eh?

I have no idea why this esoteric little issue popped into my head tonight. Preparing for a totally different post, I instead present to you a short look at the delirious 1968 Topps Wise Ties.

Originally planned as a set of 24, 12 Wise Ties were issued. These were produced in Hong Kong and are described at felt-like but it appears they were printed on thin plastic. The ties measure about 9 1/2" inches by 3 3/4" inches at their tallest/widest point, featured pithy sayings with "disgusting" looking artwork. An elastic band served to secure the tie around one's neck and to my mind could have led to the product being puled from the marketplace due to a potential strangulation risk. One would assume Topps had learned their lesson the year before with their Blockheads issue but I guess not.

The ties were sold one per pack for a dime in a bright red wrapper envelope:



These were very hard to find before a 2001 find made them a little easier. The find consisted of nine boxes (from a carton of 24) and was auctioned by Legendary:



The find of 108 packs was assimilated and now these are tough to find again; the full case held 24 packs of 12 ties apiece so presumably one set per box was possible but I doubt that was the case.

I could not find a scan anywhere on the WWW so had to borrow from Chris Benjamin's Sport Americana Price Guide to the Non-Sports Cards (Vol. 4 Edgewater Book Company, Cleveland, 1992). Sorry for the b&w:



These may have been a Halloween issue like the '67 Blockheads set. I am unaware of any Topps product from the following year, 1969, that was designed to maim or injure little children but will keep looking!