Here we have a card from the first set of Star Wars cards to be issued by Topps, in June 1977. They are now known as series one, but the cards do not actually say this, for if the film had met with little success there could never have been a set two at all. However, we all know that this was just the start of a global phenomenon.
Another fun fact was that at the time of release, this film was just called Star Wars. It was only later that it gained extra bits. making it "Episode IV", and giving it a title "A New Hope".
The cards in the first batch all had blue borders with tiny white moons and stars and planets dotted about. They came with two types of backs, either text, or a section of one of two larger pictures which would reveal an image when you had collected them all. One of these pictures showed a real picture of Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Han Solo in the cockpit of The Millennium Falcon spacecraft. The other was an art drawn poster, which was converted and slightly altered from the original especially for the cards. Topps fans, and readers of this newsletter, will be thrilled to hear that the artist who did that redrawing was none other than Augie Napoli, who we met in regards to Topps` "Monster Initials".
As to why we chose this card, well, it so aptly fits our theme, don`t you think...? And, just to save you hunting this reverse section is the top left hand corner of the artist-drawn poster.
I have discovered that this set of cards does actually appear in our vintage British Trade Index part III - and under Topps, though the entry reads : "Star Wars - See Anonymous Set ZG10-6-11 in III"
It may not sound it, but that code leads you to the back of the same book, where the set is described as :
11. Star Wars. 88 x 65. Front per Fig. ZG10-6-11, inscribed "1977 20th Century Fox Film Corp ..." Back with sectional picture or with text and illustration at base.
1. Blue borders. Numbered 1 to 66. (66)
2. Red borders. Numbered 1.A to 66.A (66)
That is where it leaves off, but this fails to mention the stickers which we covered yesterday, and there were also later sets in this series.
Series Three had yellow bordered cards numbered 133 to 198 - and black bordered stickers)
Series Four had green bordered cards numbered 199 to 264, though the stickers for these had red borders - however it is easy to tell them apart from the second series stickers because series three, four and five had stickers with borders that looked like film cells,
Series Five had orange bordered cards numbered 265 to 330 - and orange bordered stickers)