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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'. |
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A&BC Chewing Gum's first dedicated football card sets. There are
two series of these cards, numbers 1 to 46 and 47 to 92, but no
known checklist cards. |
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A set of 98 red backed cards issued in two series, First Series
(1 to 49) and Second Series (50 to 98). The backs have a 'Football
Quiz', which is how this set is often referenced. The checklist
cards are numbers 49 and 98. |
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A set of 84 cards issued in two series, Series 1 (1 to 42) and
Series 2 (43 to 84). The checklist cards are numbers 42 and 84. |
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A set of black and white photograph cards with signatures printed
over the photos, plain backs. I'm fairly certain that this set was
issued as a single series of 64 cards. There are no known checklist
cards for this set. |
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An attractive set of 80 cards plus two checklists, repeating the
'colour-framed' style from the 1960/61 black backs. I suspect that
this was issued as as a single series. There are two checklist
cards, numbered 81 and 82, but they both list the same cards
numbered 1 to 80. |
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Issued in two series, Series 1 (1 to 55) and Series 2 (56 to 110).The shop display poster header above is from a poster which features mainly Series One cards. Two versions of the wrapper are known: 1 card for 1d. and 3 cards for 2d. This set may originally have been designed as a set of 105 cards.
There is a checklist card number 105 which lists cards to 105,
replaced by a later checklist card number 110 with the label
'English Series No. 2 revised'. |
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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). |
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A set of 220 black and white cards in two series (1-110 and
111-220) issued in pairs, but most often seen as singles. The 2nd
series differs in that the player name is printed on the front of
the card. There are 8 checklist cards for the 1st series, all being
parts of a picture of the 1966 England World Cup Winning Team. The 8
checklists from the 2nd series form a picture of the runners-up -
West Germany. |
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50 stickers/stamps sold by A&BC. These are very, very rare. For
the price of 1d. you received a piece of bubble gum, plus one
sticker. |
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Promotional badges. These badges include the text 'Featured in
A&BC's Footballer Bubble Gum'. Douglas Coakley, one of original
founders of A&BC Chewing Gum, tells me that the badges were produced
as promotional items to giveaway at sales and marketing events to
promote the bubble gum packs and football cards. He can't recall the
exact dates, but the featured players strongly suggest the 1966
World Cup Squad. Originally throw-away items, these badges are now
very collectable. They are surprisingly small, being 18mm or 0.7"
diameter. |
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A small set of colourful cards, sometimes referred to as 'Black
backs'. No checklist cards. |
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An attractive set of 'pin-up' posters given away in the packets
of Star Players. Since these pin-ups were squeezed into the bubble
gum packets they always have the creases. |
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My own all-time favourite set of football cards. A neat, classy
set with a Football Quiz and Magic Answer on the back. Series 1
comprises cards 1 to 54 (Checklist is card 1), and Series 2
comprises cards 55 to 101 (Checklist card 55). |
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Team pennants folded in the yellow back card packets, hence the
folds whenever you see these attractive pennants. The pennants have
instructions to 'Cut out Pennant along black line' but thankfully
not too many boys seem to have done this. They were issued with
Series 1 of the Yellow Backs in 1968. |
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These shiny cards don't scan too well. They were issued with
Series 2 of the Yellow Backs in 1968. |
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Another popular A&BC set. The backs included a Football Facts
quiz. Series 1 comprises cards 1 to 64, Series 2 cards 65 to 117 and
Series 3 cards 117 to 170. The 3 checklist cards are unnumbered. Two
players (Lawrence and Woodfield) have card number 117. |
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Crinkle-cut photographs. Attractive black and white photograph
cards with a crinkle-cut edge. Numbers 1 to 18 were issued with
Series 2 of the Green Backs. Numbers 19 to 36 were issued with
Series 3. |
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World Cup Posters. A super set of posters. You bought the posters
through buying the bubble gum packets (6d each). The player
photographs (see below) came for free with the posters. |
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Super attractive cards for the 1970 England World Cup Squad.
Available in two forms - with or without an embossed Jules Rimet
trophy. These cards were issued with the World Cup Posters above. |
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A large set of attractive cards, issued in 3 sets. Series 1
comprises cards 1 to 84 (checklist), Series 2 cards 85 (checklist)
to 169 and Series 3 cards 170 (checklist) to 255. The galleries
available for this set include full player appearances for 1970/71
plus team results home and away, with goalscorer. |
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An attractive set of 'pin-up' posters issued with Series 1 of the
Orange Backs. Since these pin-ups were squeezed into the bubble gum
packets they always have the creases. |
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Very small stickers which include the instructions 'Peel off back
and rub picture with ball point'. Most of these transparencies would
have been so attached to school books and other surfaces, so very
few have survived intact. These transfers were issued with Series 2
and 3 of the Orange Backs. |
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A new and interesting design from A&BC. The backs are stylish,
but the fronts perhaps don't have the same appeal as in previous
years. Series 1 comprises cards 1 to 109 (checklist 57), Series 2
cards 110 to 219 (checklist 170) and Series 3 cards 220 to 290
(checklist 277). |
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A set of strange looking stickers which were issued with Series 2
of the Purple backs. They belonged in an album (cost 8p) which could
be ordered from: |
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Attractive stickers which were issued with Series 3 of the
Purple backs. These stickers, like the crests, advertise the A&BC
Footballer Album to stick them in. |
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A&BC back to basics with a well-designed set of attractive cards.
This set comprises 2 series: cards 1 to 109 (checklist 45), and 110
to 219 (checklist 154). |
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These cards were issued with Series 2 of the 1972/73 Footballer
cards, both the English and the Scottish versions. The images on the
cards appear identical to the images on the Footballer cards,
without the backgrounds. |
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Large posters of the top English and Scottish teams, each with 12
player portraits. The posters were collectable from packets of gum
costing 4p each. |
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A&BC entered the era of scary hairstyles with a classy and
popular set. The set was issued in 2 series: cards 1 to 131
(checklist 36) and 132 to 264 (checklist 182). Quality control was
still not a priority for A&BC with cards 235, 262 and 264 never
issued. |
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Another A&BC set of black and white photographs, similar to the
1969/70 set but these tend to be action, rather than head, shots.
Quality is again an issue, with the paper tending to age and
therefore make this set appear older than they really are. These
cards were issued with Series 2 of the Blue back set. |
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The last ever A&BC Footballers production before the takeover by
Topps. A small set, only 132 cards, and no special giveaways.
Checklist card is number 13. |
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Over the years there has been much speculation amongst collectors
about whether or not A&BC ever issued 'Lucky bags', which were,
allegedly, paper bags containing an assortment of football cards
leftover from previous issues. |
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