Look What Just Popped Up

Good news everybody! I've managed to finally secure an example from a very elusive metamorphic Topps set, namely Pop-Ups. My records show they are attributed to 1971 but I am not at all sure about that.

Here is how one of these would have (mostly) looked as it emerged from its pack:

We'll get to the mechanics of it in a second.  Let's look at the back first, as it shows how these were clearly designed to be worn as a gag.  There were twelve in the series, so this is the last in line.

Now, about those instructions.  What you couldn't see then (and what is missing now) was a small rubber band that allowed the Pop-Up to, well, pop up.  When popped, you get this result:

That measures 7 3/16" tall when opened!  I assume there was some small variance among subjects but that's what I came up with. The width would be a constant 2 13/16".

The back of the pop up piece is unfinished cardboard:

It's a tough set and you can see why very few have survived; this was the first example I had ever seen.

The dating is a guess, there's no clue on the wrapper, which was drawn by Wally Wood, and that seems a little late for him at Topps. Indeed, the Wally Wood checklist I have shows his art being from 1968 but I do not know how accurate that is either. Certainly, 1968-1971 is when they came out though.

No help on the back, although Hong Kong is not that common on the "imported" Topps novelties.  Most of their packs that sold confections and /or cards were indicating Duryea, PA by 1971 but if an item was simply distributed by them with no candy or gum, it was still Brooklyn:

Here's a gnarly looking box:

As with the wrapper, the bottom does not help with dating and I don't have any side panels in my scans:

Most of the tougher items on my Topps want list are types like this, or stickers, both things that would essentially be destroyed once played with or used.  So it goes.....