Six Flags

I have written here a couple of times now on the incomplete checklist for the smallest of the Hocus Focus issues but there are at least two other early Topps sets where the checklists are not entirely confirmed. One of them I have written about extensively here, the 1949-ish Play Coins of the World, where the issue is not of identifying subjects but colors. That little enigma is about to get even thornier (stay tuned) but today I want to look at the 1949 Flags of All Nations/Soldiers of the World set and its six missing cards.

There should be 100 cards in this set, which resembles the other 1949 small Topps cards in size and execution, measuring 7/8" x 1 7/16". These two sided, unnumbered cards feature a flag and attendant pole, mostly of various countries but also featuring flags of the US Marine Corps, the Confederacy and the like printed on a very strange, textured silver surface. The flip side is color painting of a representative citizen of that country or organization.

Here's my only example, a pinholed Viking flag and, uh, Viking:



The small paintings looks like they were executed by the same artists or firm that did the X-Ray Round-Up paintings of the same year's vintage:



I used to think Topps had licensed the "human" artwork for both sets but the more I delve into their early history the more I think they were done by an ad agency. The 1949 Flags of All Nations cards came in penny packs of Parade Gum and possibly in a very limited test of a Fruit Flavored Topps gum tab:



Like the other harder to find small card issues such as Varsity and License Plates, those issued only in penny packs and not via the additional avenues of vending and mail-in offers are difficult to find today. The Parade wrapper would have been primarily yellow with accent colors but I have no idea what color the Fruit gum wrapper was (I would guess pinkish or yellow though) and the above example from the 2nd Edition of the Sport Americana Price Guide to the Non-Sports Cards, 1930-1960 by Chris Benjamin is the only one I have ever seen.

Now we know the set should have had 100 cards because a year later Topps issued a 100 card set of cards that were larger at 1 3/4" x 2 7/8", a somewhat transitional size for Topps after the abandoned the penny gum tab inserts but have a matched checklist with the 94 known 1949 cards. We'll get to the checklists in a minute but let's look at a 1950 card first:



The backs are not nearly as nice as the Soldiers from a year earlier but you can see why these cards are often referred to as Parade (and confusingly the 49's are called that too sometimes). The subsets break down as follows:

Africa - 7
The Americas - 31
Asia - 18
Europe - 41
Pacific - 3

The 1950 cards came in these packs, one cent and five cent varieties were sold, with two card panels (presumably three of them) within in the latter:



There would be three other significant Topps Flags issue over the next twenty or so years but those will be touched on at a later date. The 1950 Flags cards were also used as a tie in to the bagged dime packs of Play Coins if the World, shown here previously:



Here is the checklist for the 1950 set, with an asterisk showing the missing cards from 1949. There are rumors of short prints but I suspect it's just a matter of the smaller cards being harder to find and catalog generally. The numbers are from the 1950 issue but I have done the checklist up alphabetically to make it easier to deal with:

20	1ST AMERICAN FLAG
59	ABYSSINIA
61	ADMIRAL-GREAT BRITAIN
57	ADMIRAL-ITALY
60	ADMIRAL-JAPAN
87	ADMIRAL-NETHERLANDS
83	ADMIRAL-NORWAY
85	ADMIRAL-SPAIN
43	ADMIRAL-US *
10	AFGHANISTAN
82	ALAMO *
76	ALBANIA
8	ARGENTINA
62	ARMENIA
6	AUSTRALIA
79	AUSTRIA
4	BELGIUM
2	BOLIVIA
31	BRAZIL
94	BULGARIA
30	BURMA
28	BYELO RUSSIAN SSR
25	CANADA
24	CHILE
52	CHINA
50	COLOMBIA
78	COLUMBUS' FLAG
23	COMMODORE PERRY'S FLAG
26	CONFEDERATE STATES
47	CONFEDERATE STATES 1861
49	COSTA RICA
46	CUBA
44	CZECHOSLOVAKIA
72	DENMARK
70	DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
68	ECUADOR
67	EGYPT
65	EL SALVADOR
9	ESTONIA
93	ETHIOPIA
100	FINLAND
91	FRANCE
64	GENERAL STAFF-FRANCE
1	GERMANY
5	GOLD COAST *
90	GREECE
86	GUATEMALA
84	HAITI
19	HONDURAS
55	HUNGARY
16	ICELAND
15	INDIA
13	IRAN
11	IRAQ
96	IRISH FREE STATE
98	ISRAEL
80	ITALY
99	JAPAN
58	LATVIA
37	LEBANON
35	LIBERIA
34	LUXEMBOURG
32	MEXICO
7	MOROCCO
29	NETHERLANDS
56	NEW ZEALAND
54	NICARAGUA *
53	NORWAY
51	PAKISTAN
48	PANAMA
77	PARAGUAY
75	PERU *
71	POLAND
63	PORTUGAL
27	PRE-REVOLUTIONARY JACK
41	RED CROSS
45	ROYAL AIR FORCE
73	RUMANIA
69	SAUDI ARABIA
97	SIAM
33	SPAIN
95	SWEDEN
36	SWITZERLAND
92	SYRIA
74	THE PHILIPPINES
81	TIBET
3	TRANS JORDAN
89	TURKEY
88	UKRANIAN SSR
21	UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
17	UNITED KINGDOM
14	UNITED STATES
12	URUGUAY
38	US MARINE CORPS
18	USSR (RUSSIA)
66	USSR AIR FORCE
42	VENEZUELA
22	VIKING FLAG
40	YEMEN *
39	YUGOSLAVIA

The six countries yet to be found from 1949, in case you are asterisk-challenged, are: Admiral's Flag from the US, The Alamo and flags from Gold Coast, Nicaragua, Peru and Yemen. I'll bet they exist and will post scans if and when I find 'em.