Here's a look at the set of 12 Star Trek cards, described as stamps, which came out in 1970, given free for a time in packets of sweet cigarettes by Primrose Confectionary Company Ltd.
Like many youngsters I collected sweet cigarette cards, or candy sticks as they are referred to nowadays, and although these lack any sort of sophistication I still find them nostalgically appealing..
Rather than photos from the series, the stamps show very simple drawings which are printed on very thin paper .
The back of the stamps have a brief synopsis of the the cover art, and although generally speaking the narrative has little to do with actual episodes, occasionally a genuine episode title is incorporated in the narrative ,
As each card is dated AD 2307, it's fair to assume this is beyond the time of the adventures on the stamps, as some of the narrative is written in past tense.
I love the simple pastel artwork on these cards Scoop. Really attractive and would look great blown up as wall art. They remind me of the illustrations on my Primrose Krazy Kreatures from Outer Space cards https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2010/05/krazy-kreatures-from-outer-space-1970.html
ReplyDeleteYes, I remember those. I don't have any but I've still got a few old examples of the Primrose Space Race and Joe 90 stamps which are printed on the very thin paper.
DeleteInteresting that back in 1970 a British food contained Corn Syrup. Here in the US I spend a lot of time checking ingredients when shopping to avoid Corn Syrup in prepared foods.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if calling the promotion 'stamps' was their way of saving money on more expensive card when facing printing bills? Possibly the Trade Description Act in force when these were produced would disallow use of the word card.
So, no sweet cigarettes for you, Terra! Corn Syrup seems to be an ingredient in all of those 60's candy sticks.
DeleteI don't know why they chose a thin paper and called them stamps, it could very well be cost cutting but they did release actual proper cards as well.
Primrose initially released their Joe 90 set as cards and later, that same set as thinner paper cards.
I'm interested that the illustrations and text seem to have been made up by the card producers. Given the Iron clad control Intellectual Property holders like Marvel and Paramount exert these days on all products, these cards would never have gone into production!
ReplyDeleteI remember being involved in a proposed Star Wars lamp series that never eventuated because the person who came up with the idea was never able to get past the Lucasfilm gate keepers!
That's very true, Lewis, there did seem to be an element of leeway back then.
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