Sunday, September 16, 2007
TOPPS: RAILS AND SAILS 1955 / 200-CARD COMPLETE SET PLUS WRAPPERS AND DISPLAY BOX AND UNCUT SHEETS
This is to my mind the most beautiful set of cards ever issued. Not every image has stunning merit - as with other sets, you can see the varying talent of artists working for Topps - but the ones that are special are really special - see, for example, Cards 12, 31, 90, 104, 140, or 149 - and the overall quality is high. The set has two parts, the first 130 cards, my favorites, being about trains, and the second 70 cards being about ships. The backs for each set have an entirely different design, all done with color, an unusual quality for trading cards. The backs also are among the most genuinely informative ever done. I still remember holding some of these cards after buying a pack down at the corner drugstore - not a frequent event for me and my brother: the excitement of opening the wax-paper package; the bright colors inside; and the pleasant smell of bubble gum. (See both sets of Rails and Sails in Chuckman's Non-Sports Trading Cards, Volumes 2 and 3.)
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
JOHN CHUCKMAN NON-SPORTS TRADING CARDS - TOPPS WINGS 1952 - 200-CARD COMPLETE SET - FRONTS AND BACKS - PLUS WRAPPERS AND DISPLAY BOX - SET DESCRIPTION
Like Rails and Sails, 1955, Wings, 1952, was an unusually large set at 200 cards. It has the same mix of exciting images and rather mediocre ones that we find in other Topps sets of the time. The dramatic ones still remain impressive - examples include Cards 40, 49, 72, 111, 142, 145, 151, 185, or 193. Interestingly, Topps did not reach back much into the past to the beginnings of aviation with this set, as it did with Rails and Sails and with World on Wheels. It made some effort to be international here, but the set is overwhelmingly images of American planes.
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