New Releases

Celebrating 75 Years of Topps

Topps has announced a very special retrospective series for November. As its name implies, Topps 75th will celebrate the companies 75 years of producing non-sport and entertainment trading cards, starting with 1948’s Magic Photos through 2013’s Star Wars Galactic Files 2 and beyond. A future issue.

By Jun 18,2013  4

Topps 75th Anniversary Series logoTopps has announced a very special retrospective series for November. As its name implies, Topps 75th will celebrate the companies 75 years of producing non-sport and entertainment trading cards, starting with 1948’s Magic Photos through 2013’s Star Wars Galactic Files 2 and beyond.

A future issue of Non-Sport Update magazine will have many more details on the series but we’ve obtained a few early details on how the series is shaping up so far. Here are some bullet points:

  • Coinciding with its 75th anniversary, Topps will launch a one-of-a-kind card collection featuring reproductions of 100 of the most memorable cards in the company’s history.
  • The subject matter will span the world of pop culture entertainment: from the Beatles to Elvis; from Pokémon to The Simpsons; from Wacky Packages to Garbage Pail Kids… and more!
  • Topps has also chronicled major newsworthy events including the Desert Storm war, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the landmark presidential election of Barack Obama, which will all be celebrated through the iconic Topps trading card medium.
  • Len Brown, Topps’ creative director for forty years and now in retirement, will assist in the selection of images, as well as commentary for the card backs.
  • Hobby only

There will be 116 in all to collect: 100 base cards, 8 Mini cards, and 8 Test Issue Cards. The series will have multiple levels of parallel cards: Rainbow Foil (1 per pack), Diamond Anniversary (75 per subject), Glossy Print (10 per subject). And boxes will contain three hits each: Pop Culture Autographs (2 per Box), Stamped original buybacks (1 per Box), Printing Plates (400 total), and Cut Signatures (50 total).

Topps 75th Anniversary cards

Topps has revealed a few of the early commitments for the autographs: Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Dawn Wells (Mary Ann; Gilligan’s Island), Richard Kiel (Jaws; Moonraker), Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson; Lost In Space) and more to be announced.

Topps also plans a social media push for the series celebrating 75 years by giving away 75 prizes over 75 days via Topps Facebook and Twitter accounts. Prizes include uncut sheets, autographs, and sealed original packs.

This is really shaping up to be a super series! Be sure to stay tuned to NSU and the blog for more information.

Tags:

 

Non-Sport Spotlight: Speakin' Geek with Larry Blamire

Previous

Take NYCC & See

Next

4 Comments

  • cvn August 5, 2013 Reply

    Just wondering . . . is this a typo? Because 1948 to 2013 equals 65 years . . . I don’t remember Topps producing any sets as early as 1938. Or is the 75th Anniversary supposed to represent the age of the company, rather than the number of years that it’s been producing cards to be distributed with its gum?

    1

  • Harris Toser August 6, 2013 Reply

    Hi CVN: It’s the later, as you said above — The 75th Anniversary coincides with the company anniversary (Topps was founded in 1938) rather then their first entertainment card release. Hope that helps.

    Also, the series is now on tap for December, rather then November as stated in my original story. It has been pushed back a bit.

    2

    • cvn August 6, 2013 Reply

      Thanks, Harris! That makes sense, and I seem to remember in any story I’ve read about the history of the company that it took them a few years to come up with the idea of using trading cards to promote its product. This should be a fun set, whenever it’s released.

      3

  • Jacob Vasquez November 2, 2016 Reply

    Harris, Got a late start on the Topps 75th Anniversary Card Sets.
    Found out that there are Buy Back cards from the First Series Desert Storm set as well as a few from the second and third set as well.Did some research and missed out on about ten buy back cards from the Desert Storm First Series Set back just after they released the set. Being that I got about 33% of the Buy Back First Series complete with a few dubs in there, I think that is pretty good. Got a few questions about the Desert Storm buy backs and printing plates on this particular set from Topps 75th card set. Any idea if Topps released a full set of Buy Backs on any of the Card Sets that were issued in the Pop Culture Sets or if Topps put out a list on what Buy Backs were issued in any sets? And did Topps put out just one color of each printing plate of each card or did each card just come in a single color of printing plates? Just curious on how many cards Topps released in, for example, in the Desert Storm Buy Back cards set?

    4

Leave a Reply to cvn Cancel Reply

Email this post to a friend.

or Close