Let's Do The Twist

 A bit of an unexpected update today campers!  You may recall some earlier posts on the 1968 Topps Wild Animal Surprise Box which is a bit of a mysterious product.  The retail pack (which is a box) has been seen previously and here's an example with a helpful ruler measurement of one side (roughly three inches in length):

So that looks like the width could be around five inches. The retail box had what looks like a checklist on the top flap:

However, as we're about to see, that may not be a full or correct checklist.  This recent eBay auction looks like it contained an interloper, not to mention it's the first time I've seen what is purported to be the contents of the box:

Yup, it's a polar bear! As you may note, said creature is not detailed on the box flap checklist so that's a bit off-putting.  Here is a closeup:

Oddly enough, that Banana twist gum looks like it's packed in the cello with the polar bear, which this side confirms:

At the moment, I'm not clear if those two grape twists came inside the box originally, although I suspect they did. It's quite nice to see a wild animal surprise though!

Friend o'the Archive Lonnie Cummins sent along some scans of opened twist wrappers.  They turned out to be Flavor Mates too:

The 1968 commodity code matches that of the Surprise Box, which is nice to see. Lonnie also sent along an Orange Flavor Mate scan, which has no visible code:

As has been the pattern lately here at the main Topps Archives Research Complex, finding a long sought after item or two has inevitably led to other questions! More to come once I can figure out some answers...