Saturday, May 13, 2017

More Topps License Plates and Post Cereal ones, too!


Here's a follow-up to my first post about the 1953 Topps License Plates set I'm dabbling in. I found the New York plate I wanted and grabbed several more. I doubt I'll ever try to collect all 75 but they are cheap enough so I'll give it some thought after I finish up my other projects.

The rest of these were bought because I have some (usually tenuous) connection to the state..or just because they caught my eye.


I really like the cowboy image which Wyoming still uses, I think I bought the Massachusetts plate because it's close to a clone of the one on my car.


Colorado still uses the 'Colorful Colorado' slogan, or at least they did not long ago.


The set had plates from some foreign countries as well as US states and Canadian provinces. I bought both of the Swiss plates I saw.




Two from north of the border.



I've been thru Delaware many times. Best part is that it's the starting point for the neat ride on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry.


Not going to post all the backs of these....just a state, province and one of the Swiss 'Cantons' which are more or less the equivalent of  our 'states'. I read the Wikipedia entry and it's still 'swiss' to me. This link goes to the Trading Card DB checklist if you are interested.




In 1960 Post cereal boxes came with state plates as part of the boxes. There were 50 in the set and like Posts' baseball and football sets of that era they were intended to be cut out by hand. The backs are blank. 

I bought two, New York and Maryland, in the same COMC (or eBay..I forget) purchase as the Topps ones here. As you can see the info included here under the plate image is similar to the backs of the Topps items. 



These things are a bit 'taller' than standard sized trading cards.and just a bit narrower. I scanned one with a horizontal current Topps card for comparison. And they are similarly priced. I think they were a couple of dollars each.


License plates are a neat little item. My dad worked for Shell Oil's tax branch when we were growing up and was transferred back and forth between New York and Houston a couple of times in the 60s. As a family we made the trips by car and cataloging the plates we came across was one way to kill the time. That's one reason these have caught my eye I suppose.

5 comments:

  1. I too played the license plate game during road trips as a kid; we had a scorecard and everything because I'm overly competitive. These make for some fascinating oddities.

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  2. I had been fairly well satisfied with just the New York card I already own... but I might have to track down that Wyoming card.

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  3. I have to grab a Mass one. Didn't know about the Post plates

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  4. That Wyoming plate is sweet! One day I'll add the California to my collection.

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  5. I had never seen the Post cards before. Cool! I love old plates. Wish I had the space to collect them.

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