1962 Topps Civil War News Cards

When Topps issued their Civil War News card sets in 1962, the centennial celebration of the Civil War was still in full swing.  The set consists of 87 picture cards and a checklist card, which were distributed nationwide in nickel packs.  Also, inserted in the package were replica bills of Confederate Civil War currency.  There were 17 types of bills in total.

The Civil War News card fronts featured scenes from many of the well-known Civil War battles, hand painted by a combination of two artists, Maurice Blumenfeld and Norm Saunders.  The card backs featured a synopsis of the scene being portrayed on the card fronts, and were meant to look like newspaper articles, and always featured the “Civil War News” header.  This header ultimately gave the card set its name, although the set was never intended to be titled Civil War News,  as the wrappers and boxes never had “Civil War News” printed on them.

While there are a few cards in the set that depict famous Civil War speeches and non-violent events, such as card #2 President Jefferson Davis, the majority of the cards depict graphic events.  With titles such as “Exploding Fury” (Card #5), and “Flaming Death” (Card #65), these cards were highly popular amongst kids, but much less popular amongst their mothers.

While a great deal of Civil War artwork tends to romanticize bloody battles and victories, the Civil War News cards hardly hold back.  Len Brown and Woody Gelman, the masterminds behind the set’s creation, grew up collecting the famed 1930’s Horrors of War cards.  Thus the duo created a graphic set of cards, rivaling Gum, Inc’s earlier set in terms of grotesqueness.  Both men felt that the graphic nature of the cards added to the success of the cards, as neither Len nor Woody felt that the cards would sell well with young boys if they were “too educational”.

An English company, A. B&C Limited bought the rights to the cards as well as the artwork and reproduced them in Britain.  The British version of the set was nearly identical, aside from the fact they were slightly smaller in size than the American cards.  Creators Brown and Gelman were surprised by success of the cards overseas.  Brown stated, “we wouldn't have thought that British children would give a hoot about our Civil War...But I guess blood and guts and good artwork will win every time.”   

Here at DeansCards.com we’ve had a lot of Civil War News cards come through the door, including a PSA Registry set that averaged 7.31 in condition.  The most expensive cards in the Civil War News set are the first and last cards—because they are very condition sensitive.  These cards would have been on the top (or bottom) of a card stack, and generally took the brunt of any damage done to the card sets. Thus collectors may have to pay quite a bit more for “The Angry Man” (Card #1), and the Checklist card (Card #88) in pristine condition.

With the success of the Topps Civil War News cards in 1962, Brown and Gelman decided to produce another set the very same year.  The pair combined the gore aspect of their Civil War News set, with the nation’s intense fascination with outer space and produced a 55 card set entitled “Mars Attacks.”

The Civil War News cards remain a favorite with today’s collectors, although fewer seem interested in currency bills that came with the set as inserts.  For the last two years, Civil War News has been the #1 selling non-sports card set at Deans Cards.com in both the number of cards sold and total dollar amount.  Although there are more high-profile non-sports card sets, such as “Horrors of War” and “Mars Attacks”, Civil War News cards are a much more affordable option for collectors, with the timeless and interesting subject matter of the American Civil War.

We Want You - Uncle Sam & Home Defense Card Sets

The best thing about owning a card store is that you never know what is going to come through the door or who you are going to get to meet.  Recently a local guy  came into the office and brought us about 500 UncleSam/Home Defense cards, as well as a complete set of cards #1-120. DeansCards.com buys well over 500 collections a year, but this one was particularly fun for me because the seller told me about collecting the cards as a 8-year-old and his impression of World War II as a boy..

With the success of their 1938 Horrors of War set, Gum, Inc decided to issue yet another war-themed, bubble gum card set.  Thus in 1941, Uncle Sam & Home Defense cards first appeared on the market.  These small cards measured 2 ½” by 3 1/8”, and were issued in two separate subsets.  The “Uncle Sam” set was issued first, and is comprised of cards #1-96, while the “Home Defense” set followed, as it consisted of cards numbered #97-144.

The “Uncle Sam” set focuses on the United States’ four military branches: the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Marines.  With this set, Gum, Inc. decided to focus less on the atrocities of war (much like they did in their Horrors of War and War Gum sets), and instead focused on the vigilance of the U.S. in the face of warfare.  With that said, kids and collectors often shied away from this set, which they deemed bland and boring compared to the other popular sets of the day.

“Bland” as it may be, the “Uncle Sam” set proved to be very useful with the imminence of America’s entry into the war overseas.  The artwork on the cards in this first series was reproduced in two books entitled “America’s Army” and “America’s Navy”, published by Rand McNally in 1942.  The cards also sparked patriotism, as storeowners hung sheets of uncut cards in their windows to show their American pride.  Planters Peanut’s produced premium booklets which featured illustrations of the cards as well.

The second half of the set, the “Home Defense” portion, is more costly to collect when compared to the “Uncle Sam” cards.  As the “Home Defense” cards rolled off of the printing press, Americans were being sent off to war.  Thus the paper and ink used to make the cards was rationed for the war efforts, resulting in fewer cards made.  Cards numbered 97-120 cost on average twice as much the first 96 cards in the set, while the final 24 cards in the set cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to collect. 

Although the war was confined to the continent of Europe when the Home Defense set was issued in 1941, many Americans feared violent attacks would occur here on US soil.  Thus the 48 Home Defense cards depicted precautionary activities and measures that must be taken, should an attack be carried out on the US mainland.  Card #125, “Individual Defense Against Incendiary Bombs” for example, depicts the proper course of action that women and children should take, should an incendiary bomb be dropped on their homes. 

Today we count on the internet and televised news programs to keep us abreast on the battles being fought overseas, as well as the proper precautions to take both at home and abroad.  However, in 1941, televisions were scarce and the internet was non-existent.   Thus the Uncle Sam and Home Defense trading card sets proved to be useful as well as patriotic to the American masses. 

1938 Horrors of War Promo Cards

One of our most popular Non-Sports cards set is the 1938 Horrors of War card set issued by Gum, Inc. The 240-card set features illustrations of several different international wars and was received very well by the American public, particularly children. Recently, we found several promotion cards, which were designed to be issued at schools. The backs of the cards read "You Can Get 240 Pictures and Thrilling Stories of Actual Warfare by saving the cards just like this which come packed with Horrors of War Bubble Gum, sold at candy counters for one cent. The gum is a sensible chew between meals; the picture cards teach the value of peace. 1000 cash prizes to the 1000 children who send us the neatest lists of 240 correct titles. Ask your dealer for the details."

Horrors of War cards are particularly interesting because of the time period in which they were released, but also for their popularity both then and now.  We are very excited about these promo cards and we hope to find more like them in the near future.