MID CENTURY CARDS
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1960 LIAM DEVLIN & SONS LTD, RIGHT OR WRONG #45 BASKET BALL (IRELAND)
Liam Devlin and Sons was an Irish candy company that primarily made candy cigarettes. The Right or Wrong card set consisted of 48 cards, all featuring various sports. The front of the cards would show a player(s) doing a particular sporting move or play and the back of the card would briefly explain if what they were shown doing was the right or wrong way. Measurements: 2.25" x 3.125"
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1960 FERRERO I VINCITORI DELLE OLIMPIADI #76 PALLACANESTRO (ITALY)
This Ferrero set featured a variety of sports that were Olympic events. There were 100 cards in the set and this was the only basketball card. The back of the card mentions that the game was started in the United States and that the U.S. had won every Olympics basketball tournament up until then (1960).
Measurements: 1.375" x 1.75" |
1960 MIO SPORT LOCATELLI #11 PALLACANESTRO (ITALY)
MIO was an Italian cheese company that occasionally released cards. The date of 1960 was determined by finding listings for the empty boxes that included these cards, with the same font and design, with 1960 being listed as the year in all descriptions. The back of the card mentions the invention of the game in America and briefly discusses the rules.
Measurements: 1.75" x 1.5" |
1961-62 FLEER BASKETBALL CARDS (U.S.A.)
The 1961 Fleer set featured 44 players, with 44 individual cards and 22 In Action cards highlighting half of those players, for a total of 66 cards. This is considered by many to be one of the finest basketball sets ever produced and a triumph of mid century design.
Fleer did not produce another full NBA player set until 1986. Measurements: 2.50" x 3.5" |
1961 WHEATIES GREAT MOMENTS IN CANADIAN SPORT #9 EDMONTON GRADS (CANADA)
1962 CHOCO BN CARD, TAKE PART IN THE COMPETITION #3 LONDON 1948 (FRANCE)
These cards were published Le Journal de Spirou, and removed from the comic section Histoires de l'oncle Paul between March and September of 1962.
This is image #3 of a series of 12 hand cut cards, it is unknown if there are any other basketball cards in the series. Measurements: 2" x 5" (card only) |
1962 EDITORIAL ROMA BARCELONA EL MUNDO EN QUE VIVIMOS, DEPORTES Y COMPETICIONES #17 BALONCESTO (SPAIN)
El Mundo en que Vivimos was a collection of 8 albums of cards that all featured different themes. Sports was featured in the 8th album, Deportes y Competiciones, which included this one basketball card. Each album included 24 cards and were meant to be hand cut from folded covers of the album and then to be glued inside the album to their corresponding spot . The basketball card was #17 in the Deportes subset and #185 in the entire Vivimos set of 192 cards.
Measurements: 2" x 2.75" |
1962 DICKSON ORDE & CO LTD., SPORTS OF THE COUNTRIES #12 BRAZIL (U.K.)
1963 KTAV PUBLISHING JEWISH SPORTS CHAMPIONS HAND CUT CARDS (U.S.A.)
1963 GAD FUN CARDS #76 NEW YORK GERMANS (U.S.A.)
The 1963 Gad Fun Cards were issued by a sports illustrator named Gad from Minneapolis, Minnesota. A sports cartoon was on the front of the card accompanied by a sports fact or statistic. The back of the card contained another unrelated cartoon with a joke or riddle. There were 84 cards in the set, with just one (#76) featuring basketball.
Measurements: 2.5" x 3.5" |
1960s IMPRIMERIE ATELIER LITHOGRAPHIQUE LES PLUS BELLES COLLECTIONS D'IMAGES, SERIE 1 LES SPORTS, NO 10 BASKET-BALL (FRANCE)
I cannot find much information about these sets online, so I'm limited to the information on the back and the few available exemplar images I could find. The year released is just an estimate. The Imprimerie Atelier Lithographique was a printing lithograph workshop in Loire France. This set was released in 4 series, with the 1st series, Les Sports, focused on Olympic sporting events. There were 15 cards in each series for a total of 60 cards.
Back is stamped Bon pour Nougat (Good for Nougat), so I assume these could be traded in for a nougat candy. Measurements: 2.625" x 3.75" |
1960s VARI-VUE LENTICULAR FLICKER CARD A S-18 (U.S.A.)
1964 RUIZ ROMERO OLIMPIADA DE TOKIO #161 BALONCESTO (SPAIN)
There were 298 cards in this set that all featured Olympic games and sports from the 1964 games. This is the only card that features basketball to the best of my knowledge. These were typically glued to an accompanying album,
so they are difficult to find in nice condition. Measurements: 1.875" x 3" |
1964 HERBA-VERLAG OLYMPISCHER SPORT, BILD 86, BASKETBALL (WEST GERMANY)
The Olympischer Sport set consisted of 96 cards and featured the 1964 Olympic games
in Tokyo. The cards had variations with the text color on the reverse, being released in both blue and black text. This card features a semi-final game between Brazil and Czechoslovakia. Measurements: 2.375" x 3.375" |
1964 NESTLE LOS JUEGOS OLIMPICOS TOKIO 1964 #306 BALONCESTO (SPAIN)
1964 BRUGUERA ENCICLOPEDIA DESPORTIVA COLECCION DE 250 CROMOS (SPAIN)
1964 LAMBERTS OF NORWICH SPORTS & GAMES #22 NETBALL (U.K.)
1965 JENKKI GUM HELLAS OLYMPOS #144 TEAM U.S.A. 1964 OLYMPICS CARD (SWEDEN)
1965 SAMALLI EL BUEN CHOCOLATE COLECCIÓN ALBUM 2 EDUCADOR, SERIE 8, NUM. 5 (SPAIN)
Samalli Chocolates of Spain produced these cards and corresponding album as an education and learning series. Album 1 was released in 1963 and this basketball card is from Series 8 of the 2nd album, which was released in 1965. The 2nd album set consisted of 100 cards, this is the only basketball card in the set.
Measurements: 2.75" x 2.125" |
1966 KONGA DEPORTE Y PREMIOS (SPAIN)
Konga was a Spanish soda company and they produced this 264 card set featuring various popular sports that was distributed with their products. The majority of the cards featured soccer but there were 11 basketball cards as well. These typically have residue on the back as they were often glued to the accompanying album.
Measurements: 1.5" x 2.375" |
1966 EDICIONES INFANTILES CRACK CAMPEONATO MUNDIAL LONDRES 66 (URUGUAY)
The Londres 66 set consisted of around 400 cards that featured various sports including basketball.
The exact number of basketball cards is unknown but I've compiled 10 examples thus far. These were typically glued to their accompanying album, so they are difficult to find in nice condition. Measurements: 1.125" x 1.75" |
1967 NESTLE EL DEPORTE VISTO POR SUS ASES BALONCESTO
The El Deporte Visto Por Sus Ases featured 12 different sports, all of which had their own small album to accompany them.
Baloncesto was album #3 and there were 24 basketball cards in total (all shown here). These can be more difficult to find without residue, loose from an album. Measurements: 2.25" x 1.5" |
1966-67 BAGGIOLI PALLACANESTRO FIGURINA CARDS (ITALY)
There is not much information online about this set but they initially came in sheets and were meant to be hand-cut into cards.
The football cards came in team specific sheets, I assume the basketball cards were similar but the exact number of basketball cards is unknown. Measurements: 1.75" x 2.375" |
1967-68 PANINI CAMPIONI DELLO SPORT PALLACANESTRO COMPLETE SUBSET (ITALY)
The 1967 Panini Campioni Dello Sport Cards were a 534 card set featuring a variety of different sports.
There were 51 total basketball cards in the set (all seen here). These cards can be more common to find, although they often come with residue on the back as they were meant to be glued into an album. Measurements: 1.625" x 2.625" |
1968 CHOCOLATES SULTANA HISTORIA DE LOS JUEGOS OLIMPICOS COLECCION DE 72 FOTOCROMOS (SPAIN)
1968 EDICIONES CRACK DIDACTICA Y DEPORTIVA FUTBOL CRACKITO (URUGUAY)
The Futbol Crackito collection consisted primarily of soccer cards but also included cards of notable historic figures, illustrated cards, and a few other sports. The album was large, with hundreds of cards, that had a diverse array of different designs and shapes.
The number of basketball cards is unknown. There is an example of 2 joined cards that together create an image of the USA Olympic Basketball team. Measurements: 1.5" x 1.875" |
1968 CONTAMOS CONTIGO PROMOCION DEPORTIVA (SPAIN)
1968 VICTORIA PARADE DES VEDETTES ALBUM 2 (BELGIUM)
There were a total of 13 Basketball cards in this Album #2 set of 208 total cards. Album #1 was released 3 years earlier,
in 1965 and also featured 13 Basketball players. These were meant to be adhered to an accompanying album, so finding them without residue is more difficult. Measurements: 1.675" x 2.5" |
1968 FHER/DETERGENTE WILCO LAVANDO, YO DESCANSANDO (SPAIN)
These Fher issued cards were released in Wilco Laundry Detergent boxes. There were 4 subsets of 40 cards each, for a total of 160 cards. The sets came in 4 colors with the color green representing the sports series. The 40 card green set featured a variety
of sports including 3 basketball cards (all seen here). Measurements: 1.5" x 2.5" |
1968 JUEGOS OLIMPICOS DIFUSORA DE CULTURA (SPAIN)
This was a multi-sport set that consisted of 240 total cards. The exact number of basketball cards is unknown but does
include cards of the Harlem Globetrotters and the USA Olympic basketball team. These were often glued to their album, so they are difficult to find without residue. Measurements: 2.75" x 4" |
1969-70 PANINI CAMPIONI DELLO SPORT PALLACANESTRO COMPLETE SUBSET (ITALY)
The 1969 Panini Campioni Dello Sport Cards were a 436 card set featuring a variety of different sports. There were 40 total basketball cards in the set (all seen here). These cards can be more common to find, although they often come with
residue on the back as they were meant to be glued into an album. Measurements: 1.125" x 1.625" |
1969-70 PANINI CAMPIONI DELLO SPORT VIGNETTA AUTOADESIVA (ITALY)
The Campioni Dello Sport set of 1969-70 also had subsets of Vignetta Autoadesiva (self-adhesive stickers), that included team sports, metallic coat of arms, and illustrations of individual athletes of various sports (seen here).
There were 2 basketball player stickers included in the illustrated athlete stickers. Measurements: 1.125" x 2.625" |
1970-71 TOPPS BASKETBALL (U.S.A.)
Marking the first back-to-back Topps pro basketball release, the 1970-71 Topps Basketball set is best known for the Pete Maravich rookie card. Just like in 1969-70, the 1970-71 Topps Basketball went with a tallboy format, although Topps expanded the number of cards and made a second series for the first time ever. There were 175 cards in the set.
Measurements: 2.5" x 4.75" |
MID CENTURY CARDS
Click button above for cards released between 1940-1949
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Click button above for cards released between 1950-1959
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Click button above for cards released between 1960-1970
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