Here's a new look at an old set, 1968's Wise Ties, which I've covered in a small way previously (click on over to the labels to see). Topps was experiencing a peak right around '68 in their max experimental period that ran from roughly 1966 to 1971, with releases often fueled by ideas from the underground artists Topps was using for a lot of their new product development under Woody Gelman. These projects, informed in many cases by Pop-Art, were then illustrated for release by really talented artists like Wally Wood (our illustrator here) and Jack Davis.
A number of supremely surreal sets reared their pointy little heads during this time and there aren't many more "out-there" issues than Wise Ties. Despite at least one semi-find over the years, the ties are not seen all that often, as the story is Topps pulled them from the market due to concerns that the elastic band used to secure them around the neck could be a choking hazard. Even today, given their odd dimensions and just plain weirdness, they don't get a lot of love in terms of articles or reference guide action. So I thought a visual checklist of the set would be kinda groovy, with scans provided by Friend o'the Archive Jeff Pace. And without further ado:
A word to the wise....these are really cool!
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