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The 'Civil
War' (sometimes known as 'Civil War News') bubblegum card set was first
produced for the USA in 1962, to commemorate the centenary of the conflict
between North and South. It was later issued in a number of other countries,
with the same artwork, the English edition being printed by A&BC and
issued in 1965. Commissioned by the Topps Chewing Gum Company of New York,
the images on the fronts of 87 of the 88-card set were created over six
months by artists Norman Saunders, Bob Powell and Maurice Blumenfeld and
depicted hand-painted (frequently gory and violent) scenes of the notable
events and battles. Woody Gelman edited the 'Civil War News' on the backs
of the cards, which told the story of the event in a 'newspaper report'
style, headed by a banner 'Civil War News', hence the 'alternative' set
name by which it is widely known. Card 88 was a 'checklist' of all the other
cards available (unmarked 'checklist' cards are actually quite rare and
are now worth significantly more than any of the other cards).
While we, as children, loved the cards, our parents were not spectacularly
impressed as they were not keen on seeing their 'little angels' being exposed
to such scenes of blood, pain, gore and death. It was educational as well
though - how many of us knew that submarines had been in use during the
American Civil War? The backs of the cards showed a 'newspaper page', with
a headline, containing a 'report' on a battle or historical figure.
As well as the five cards inside each bubblegum pack there was also to be
found one of the seventeen different replicas of Confederate banknotes,
from $1 to $1,000. These were about a third of the size of the real originals,
but artistically accurate. The set was to become one of the most-collected
trading card sets of all time.
I actually had a complete set, some were very hard to acquire, and I have
no idea what happened to them (along with an almost complete British stamp
collection) but I suspect this was disposed of by my mother when I first
moved out - along with a 3-foot stack of early DC and Marvel comics!! These
pictures certainly brought back a few childhood memories for me, and I hope
they do for you, too.
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