Card of the Day - 2022-03-14

Let us start by admitting to slight confusion (as always for me) over the numbering of this set, as there were 259 numbered stickers, plus ones showing red noses and these were separately lettered from A to Z. But if someone can add this up, I will change the 259+ to the actual figure ! 

The cards showed scenes of the people and charities that the money would be going towards, and unusual cards like this cat and her canine companion, sporting their red noses in a whole new way. But most people today collect it for the cards of personalities, from stage, screen, and sport. 

This year, 2022, marks a change, as Comic Relief used to alternate with Sport Relief until last year, when it was decided to have Comic Relief, now subtly changed to "Red Nose Day" every year, whilst Sport Relief moved into an association with a range of actual sporting events all year round.

The original album for 1995 showed Richard Wilson (One Foot in the Grave), Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean), and Lenny Henry on the front cover, and said that “by buying this album you are contributing to Comic Relief and supporting projects in Africa and the UK”.  I have to say that at the moment I know of no other years of this event which were recorded by Merlin stickers; but I can't believe that this was the only year that such a good fund-raising idea was used, so is it just that the others are just really scarce? Anyone out there with any info do let us know…

As this is the first Merlin Card of the Day, we will record a few notes about the firm. This was founded in 1989, by three men who had formerly worked for Panini, Kelvyn Gardner, Peter Dunk, and Peter Warsop. A fourth man, Mark Hillier, joined later.

Their first set was issued the same year, these were "Team 90", and the four hundred and fifty stickers covered players from the English Football League. They were instantly popular, mainly because the World Cup was to be held the following year, in Italy - and they followed that set up in 1990 with a "World Cup Sticker Collection" of three hundred and forty four cards

In 1993 they became a public limited company. 

Their range would eventually encompass not just trading cards and stickers, but books, comic books, graphic novels, magazines, pogs, and games - and not just sport, for films and television shows were also commemorated by their products, most notably Barbie, Batman, Doctor Who, Gladiators, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings, Pokemon, Power Rangers, Star Wars, and the X-Files.

And, in 2009, they also, very aptly, produced a series called "The Adventures of Merlin", based on the BBC television series.

It is the sport, especially the football, however, for which they are chiefly remembered today, for it was their "Premier League Collection", first issued in 1994, that really caught on with collectors. This involved a very lucky break, for the Premier League was relatively new, having only started in 1992. There were cards for this, "Football 93", by Panini, but they were not officially sanctioned to produce them. They were also based in Italy, and the Premier League reputedly wanted a British company to make them. They got in touch with Merlin, and the result was "Premier League 94". This was complete in four hundred and seventy nine stickers.

But in 1995 they were bought out by Topps, who kept the company name and continued to use it, starting with "Merlin 95" and continuing until 2008. In between these years they had a very celebrated tie up with Mcdonalds resturants

In 2008 the name disappeared, and the cards were suddenly branded "Topps Premier League". It was not until 2014 that the name "Merlin" reappeared, on Premier League stickers. However this too was a short lived revival, as Topps lost the Premier League contract, to Panini, in 2019. 

The following year, Topps introduced  "Merlin Heritage 95" collectors cards. This was not just using the name though, for the cards and packets were based on the originals of 1995. And in 2021 they issued "Merlin Heritage 97", based on the cards of 1997. However these do not seem to have been added to since then. 

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