Monday, November 11, 2013

1968 Topps Test Cloth Football Patches Wax Box

Recently an item came up for auction that I thought I'd never see - a 1968 Topps Test Real Cloth Football  Patches wax box:


Up until now, the only picture of the box I had seen was the proof sheet that had been offered for sale by the Topps Vault, which I included in my review of the set back in 2010.


Given how scarce this test issue was, I didn't think I would ever see a wax box, so I was very pleased to see the seller posted a number of pictures of the box:





This is one of my favorite Topps test sets, with the colorful team patches and the oversized team cards,




but unfortunately it was done on such a limited basis that the cards and patches are very hard to find, and therefore very expensive.

To give collectors a chance to put together a modern version of this set, I think it would be a great idea for Topps to incorporate this set into next years Archives Football release.  Just as they did this year honoring the 1971 Topps Greatest Moments (my other favorite test set) in this year's Baseball Archives set,


they could make the team cards box toppers (as they are the same size as the Greatest Moments), and include the cloth team patches a an insert set.  Are you listenting Topps?

2 comments:

Fuji said...

I'd love to pull some of those cloth team patches! C'mon Topps... just do it!

Tom said...

I just found a St. Louis Football Cardinals iron on stamp at an estate sale yesterday, but it doesn't look like the one issued for this 1968 series. The one I found is just the white helmet with the Cardinal head logo. Did Topps do these for other years?