Saturday, March 11, 2017

1976 SSPC '200 Years Of Freedom' set


It's really a wonder that I had no idea that this set existed until a couple of weeks ago. I've been trying to find a SSPC baseball set on the cheap for quite awhile so I pretty regularly scrounged through eBay searching for 'sspc baseball complete'.

Then one day this '200 Years of Freedom' set wiggled it's way through the eBay filters. With my interest in memorabilia items political/presidential related and the fact that it cost just seven bucks I picked it up. I wasn't sure what I was getting exactly other than a sealed 45 card set put out by SSPC to commemorate the '76 Bicentennial celebration. It showed up this past week.


I thought it might breeze trhough the entire 200 years but the focus is the American Revolution. The cards feature heroes, battles and key moments of the war.


The cards have the same 'semi-glossy' look and feel as TCMA's SSPC baseball and the Renata Galasso issues.


The backs especially resemble the Galasso sets in that they share the same red/blue printing.


Two things I noticed right away upon taking off the clear cello wrapper. First of all the cutting or trimming process in producing the cards resulted in them varying in size quite noticeably and many of the cuts were rough resulting in 'fuzzy' edges. Those things are not seen in the scans but are very obvious in hand.


The other thing is that the cards are warped. If you own some of those Bowman Chrome cards you have an idea of what these look like. It may just be how they were stored, I have no way to know. What I do know is that they are tough to scan correctly because the warping makes them sort of 'spin' on the platen no matter how carefully you close the scanner cover.


It's an interesting little set. I'm glad I picked it up but I'm also glad I didn't spend much on it. I saw some listed with an asking price of up to $30.


All the Revolutionary 'superstars' are included.


As are some of the lesser known contributors.



Some of the cards which depict famous scenes are made from better reproductions of paintings than others.



Big George gets two cards.

Here are a few more backs. I'm not up to 'fact checking' these things like I did the Civil War News cards.




Here is the complete checklist:

 1    The Declaration of Independence
 2    The Declaration of Independence
 3    George Washington                         1732-1799
 4    Paul Revere                               1735-1818
 5    Minutemen
 6    Battle of Lexington                       April 19, 1775
 7    Ben Franklin                              1706-1790
 8    Sam Adams                                 1722-1803
 9    Patrick Henry                             1736-1799
10    The Battle of Bunker Hill                 June 17, 1775
11    Thomas Paine                              1737-1809
12    Thomas Jefferson                          1743-1826
13    John Hancock                              1737-1793
14    Nathaniel Greene                          1742-1786
15    Robert Morris                             1734-1806
16    Marquis de LaFayette                      1757-1834
17    Henry Knox                                1750-1806
18    Washington Crosses the Delaware           December 25, 1776
19    Capture of Hessians at Trenton            December 26, 1776
20    Horatio Gates                             1728-1806
21    Alexander Hamilton                        1757-1804
22    Charles Lee                               1731-1782
23    Benedict Arnold                           1741-1801
24    John Paul Jones                           1747-1792
25    Serapis vs. Bonhomme Richard              September 23, 1779
26    Battle of Saratoga
27    Nathan Hale                               1755-1776
28    Benjamin Lincoln                          1733-1810
29    John Adams                                1735-1826
30    Casimir Pulaski                           1748-1779
31    Battle of Princeton                       January 3, 1777
32    Death of Mercer at Princeton
33    Anthony Wayne                             1745-1796
34    Betsy Ross
35    John Stark                                1728-1822
36    Battle of Monmouth                        June 16-July 5, 1778
37    Francis Marion                            1732-1795
38    Valley Forge
39    Frederich von Steuben                     1730-1794
40    Comte de Rochambeau                       1725-1807
41    "We fight, get beat, rise and fight again"
42    Cornwallis Surrenders at Yorktown
43    Resignation of Washington
44    George Washington
45    Spirit of '76

Card #2 shows the Declaration document itself. So if you've ever wondered what the Declaration of Independence looked like at less than 2.5x3.5 inches here 'tis:




All in all it's a neat but totally unnecessary little novelty set. And yes, I did find an SSPC baseball set for a good price. I'll talk about that another day.

7 comments:

  1. Very cool. I need to hunt down a copy, I never knew it existed until reading your post. I had a direct ancestor at the Battle of Lexington & Concord. Luckily he survived or else I would not be here.

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    1. Just finished a job in Lexington. History everywhere you looked

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  2. Wow, nice find. I'd never heard of this set either.

    You can tell I come from the metropolitan New York area because my reaction to the Casimir Pulaski card was "Hey, it's the guy the bridge is named after!" (For those not familiar with the area, the Pulaski Bridge is one of many bridges within New York City).

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  3. Another one I will have to track down Two in a row

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    1. Frankly I'm stunned that there is actually something you don't own. Two things no less!! I bet if you jumped back on the Segway and rode around that four acre hobby warehouse of yours you might find these.

      Seriously I went looking for the Capital Publishing cards you had on Twitter. No Orioles. And some of the big names are very spendy. Neat set though.

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  4. Never seen or heard of this set before... but I love it. Might need to target one of these on eBay. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Thanks I will be looking for one of these.

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