From the desk of the Philosophic Toad comes this interesting snippet of research into the ephemeral days of space collecting. Weetabix issued two separate sets of 25 'Conquest of Space' cards - 'A' and 'B'in its cereal. The Toad has managed to collect one or two examples from both sets which shows some excellent early artwork of the space race at this early period of development. The Lunar Tractor has an especially 'bonestellian' look to it and the Lunar Module is a very streamlined version compared to the ugly 'bug' some ten years later.
As well as discovering this rare set of cards, Toad has also discovered a press advert from Express Weekly, 21st March 1959 to promote the series with a simple competion to win a princely sum of £100, just by naming the 'Deep Space Ship' from card number 20. Further research into the archives revealed a winner - the result was announced in Express Weekly for 6th June 1959, when the name chosen by lucky winner, Adrian Wilson, was revealed: COSMOPROBE.
We wonder now if Adrian is out there and reading this ?
7 comments:
Beautiful cards Toad and Wote [or should that be Wart?]
The artwork is stunning. I can't get over a prize of £100 in 1959 - just had a look and it's value os close to £2K today! Lucky Adrian!
For some reason, the name "Ares" springs to mind for that "dumb-bell" ship! The moonship was one designed by the space artist R.A.Smith of the British Interplanetary Society - it was to be launched either atop a sort of giant V2, and refueled in space, or on an atomic-powered launch vehicle. The moon tractor is a homage to Bonestell - could this be the origin of the SWORD Moon Ranger? OT, if you don't mind me hijacking this thread, I'm thinking of doing a Yahoo Group or maybe blog (if I can find a way to do a free blog!) for illustrations to 1950s boys SF - anyone got any suggestions for a name for said group/blog?
Grif
Wow! Hadn't realised it was that much, Woodster! Astonishing!
Interesting stuff, Grif. As for free bogs, you might try Blogger.com or Wordpress. I had a go with the later today, and was impressed!
http://wordpress.com/
What sort of items are you going to be putting on your blog, Grif? Would this be of any use?
http://picasaweb.google.com/The.Philosophic.Toad/MarvelMan#
Hope Grif lets everyone know if and when the website is set up. I grew up with a lot of second hand 1950s comic annuals, and am a fan of fifties as well as sixties space art.
grif - hows about 'RETRO ROCKETS' ?
Wotan
Great post Toad and Wotan...thanks.
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