1956 topps Football

[TanksAndSpartans]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

I believe Topps uses college players for their 1948 Hocus Pocus Magic Photos, 1950 Topps Felt Backs, 1951 Topps Magic, and 1955 Topps AA sets ALL because they didn't have a license to use pro players prior to 1956.

Jeff

Great info Jeff! Didn't know Topps had anything football related in 48. Did Bowman go out of business after losing the license or did they produce any cards (baseball, non-sports, etc.) on or after 1956? I'd argue Bownam had the nicest (aesthetically, which of course is completely subjective) run (2 or more consecutively) of sets of any company that did football cards from 50-52 for sure, but you could say 50-55. I'd have to guess those were more expensive to produce than sets that were essentially just b/w photographs like 48 Bowman - I wonder if that extra cost hurt them at all - difficult to sustain etc.... I would think even in the mid-fifties (not sure when this changed) the gum was the main product they were competing to sell, not the cards

[jefferyepayne]

Topps bought Bowman and that's why they disappeared.

Jeff

[jefferyepayne]

The Topps cards in 1948 were part of the multi-card set they produced that came as small undeveloped photos with images that would appear when exposed to light. Because this was an inexact science, the images are often not very good.

Here is one of Bednarik. Topps spelled his name wrong.



jeff

[TanksAndSpartans]

Wow! Thanks Jeff. Those Topps 48s must be small - that looks like a coin holder.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by DezHood

Wow! Thanks Jeff. Those Topps 48s must be small - that looks like a coin holder.

They are small. Topps included these in single gum wrappers. They did the same thing with their 1950 Topps Felt Backs that are the same size.

jeff