Spooktacular Fun!

Well Hallowe'en is once again just around the corner and lo and behold something themed to the day before Samhain (which no one ever talks about) has just come across my bow.  I missed out on the auction of this great piece but a very early Topps sales brochure just sold on eBay:

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Those are some serious Leave It To Beaver graphics! I kid, I kid, this is a great brochure actually. For me, one of the best things about it is I've found another piece to add to the Master Topps type list: Trick or Treat Bubble Gum! There's little pictures and games on the interior so it counts: 

Now the sweetest thing of all is the fact I can date the brochure and also show what is likely the second earliest Topps Fun Pack. Take a gander at this, one of the most amazing things I have seen in relation to Topps:

This puts the brochure at 1950 to my mind as all the tiny little Topps card sets issued with penny gum tabs came out in 1949.  In additon License Plates (Stop &Go) and Varsity would still have been active retail products in the fall of that year. In fact, Varsity may not even have been out by the this brochure was created  Some of that gum must have been quite stale!  An earlier bulk pack was offered in the Spring of 1950 with similar items but also included five cent packs and wholesaled for a whopping 94 cents a pop. It also looks like Topps was pushing the Fun Pack idea based on past success with the format. These were just under 15 cents each (or 16 cents farther afield). This is really something as we have another distribution method for the 1949 Felt Backs (Varsity Gum).

Topps Hallowe'en products are on my radar for sure, more to come as I develop things!