Nigel's Webspace - Galleries of English Football Cards 1965/66 - 1979/80

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A&BC Chewing Gum. If you want to see A&BC cards from 1965/66 to 1979/80 click here. If you want to see A&BC Scottish cards click here. A&BC Chewing Gum, formed in 1949 (click here for a company history) produced a number of football cards in the period from 1954 until 1965/66. While they are not directly relevant to this site they are listed and described below due to the level of interest from collectors. I am not an expert on these earlier A&BC cards, so if you have anything to correct or add please feel free to email.
1954
'All Sport' series. A set of 120 black and white photograph cards with plain backs. The chewing gum was issued in a wrapper which said 'All Sport, Picture Bubble Gum'. There was a coupon on the wrapper which you could use to send away with 1/- to 'All Sports", 59 Oak Grove, Cricklewood, London, NW3. The coupons could be used to acquire an album 'Send 1/- and only 5 coupons for your super giant 20 page album containing a full history of all the sportsmen and sportswomen in this series'.

Number in set: 120 (36 footballers).
1958/59
Topstars - Famous Footballers. A&BC Chewing Gum's first dedicated football card sets. There are two series of these cards, numbers 1 to 46 (Series 1) and 47 to 92 (Series 2). For Series 1 there are two versions of the set, commonly referred to as 'Planet', due to an offer printed at the top of some of the cards. In Series 1, the 'Planet' cards have black and red backs, while the non-Planet cards have blue and red backs.

All cards in Series 2 have, or originally had, the Planet offer at the top and therefore have black and red backs. The text of the offer is 'Send your name and address with 1/- P.O. for 32 page FOOTBALL ALBUM to PLANET LTD., 50 Hampstead Road, N.W. 1.

The wrapper has text which states 'Send 1 wrapper and 1/- P.O for your TOPSTAR ALBUM'. Write your name and address on separate paper. The address on the wrapper is A&BC Chewing Gum Ltd., London N.W. 9. Click to view the Topstars Album of Famous Footballers.

Number in set: 92.

Checklists: Set checklist or Team checklist.



1959/60
Footballer. A set of 98 red backed cards issued in two series, Series 1 (1 to 49) and Series 2 (50 to 98). The backs have a 'Football Quiz', which is how this set is often referenced.

The wrappers do not have an album offer, but state 'Manufactured under licence with Topps Chewing Gum Inc., N.Y., U.S.A.'. This ties in with the A&BC history which reports that Topps bought in to A&BC in 1959 (see A&BC Chewing Gum history Part 2).

Number in set: 98. Click for galleries: Series 1, Series 2.

Checklists: Series 1, Series 2 or Team checklist.

1960/61
Footballers - Black backs. A set of 84 cards issued in two series, Series 1 (1 to 42) and Series 2 (43 to 84).

There are thought to be two wrappers with this set, perhaps one for each series, with a price rise in between?

The wrappers state 'Send 5 wrappers and 1/- postal order with your name and address to A.& B.C. Chewing Gum Ltd., Harold Hill, Romford, Essex for your album'.

Number in set: 84. Click for galleries: Series 1, Series 2
.

1961/62
Footballers. A set of black and white photograph cards with signatures printed over the photos, plain backs. Issued in two series, Series 1 (1 to 32) and Series 2 (33 to 64).

Number in set: 64. Click for set gallery.
1962/63
Footballers - Bazooka. An attractive set of 80 cards plus two checklists, repeating the 'colour-framed' style from the 1960/61 black backs. I'm not sure whether this was issued as two series (i.e. one half of the cards issued at the start of the season and the other half later), but they do have two checklists.

Set maker:  A&BC Chewing Gum
Set details: 1962/63 Bazooka
Number in set: 82
Gallery: Cards 1-40, Cards 41-82
Checklists: Set checklist, Team checklist
 
1963/64
Footballers - Make-a-Photo. Issued in two series, Series 1 (1 to 55) and Series 2 (56 to 110).

Number in set: 110.
 
1964/65
Footballers - Quiz. A&BC continue to grow the size of the sets, this time issuing the cards in three series, Series 1 (1 to 58), Series 2 (59 to 103) and Series 3 (104 to 149).

Number in set: 149.
 

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