Fly Me to the Moon

[Tallone]

My only significant buy of the weekend was a large box full of NASA space program stuff. I paid $20 for it at a yard sale.



I didn't take the time to dig through the entire box so I made the buy based on some unusual looking stuff I saw on top. I had hoped to find some patches or other unusual items but, as it turned out, the box was mostly newspapers and magazines.

Probably the most interesting thing was the stack of "Man on the Moon" trading cards. I have never seen these before. The guy I bought them from said they used to sell these in bubble gum packs like baseball cards. Apparently they were only sold for a couple of years right around the time of the first moon landing in 1969. I don't think these are super valuable but I have 81 of them with only 1 duplicate. Hard to tell what I might get for them but I am hoping for maybe $50 or so.

A couple of the individual magazines are interesting. One of the Newsweek mags dates back to 1959 with a front page devoted to research into weightlessness. One of the Life mags was published the week after the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969.

 

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[diggummup]

About the cards-

1969 Topps Man on the Moon was actually release in two separate issues. The first has 55 cards. The latter reissue, which was released in 1970, saw the checklist expand to 99 cards. This included the same 55 cards from the original release plus 44 new cards. However, the numbering is a little different. The initial issue and the reissue can be discerned on the card backs, even the first 55 cards. The first release had an 'A' or a 'B' after each number (1A, 2A, 54B, etc) to discern what puzzle it forms. For the reissue, all 99 cards are numbered 'of 99' (1 of 99, 2 of 99, 54 of 99, etc).
1969 Topps Man on the Moon Trading Cards Checklist, Info, Buying Guide

 

[Tallone]

I have some of each issue. I noticed the difference in the numbering system but hadn't taken the time to figure out what was going on there so thanks, dig, for the explanation. Very good information. BTW, there are a few cards that don't seem to have any numbering on them at all. Maybe I just didn't look closely enough but I sorted them according to the numbering system and I didn't know where to put those because I didn't see a number.

 

[diggummup]

Mybe try looking for that particular photo online will put a number to it. Could they be miscuts? I found this, in particular the end of the last sentence...

Topps issued Man on the Moon twice, the first 55 cards before Apollo 11 in July 1969, then all of them (renumbered as "...of 99 cards") after the landing. The cards all go for $1-1.75 apiece today. Card backs #1A-35A form one puzzle, #36B-55B another, but Puzzle C (cards #56-99) is virtually impossible to complete, owing to bizarre transpositions of card backs, doublings of card numbers, miscutting, etc.

Allen Varney: Collect! column (Man in the Moon)

 

[Tallone]

I know what they mean about the miscutting. The numbering info is print on a line on the back of the card on the bottom. I have one card that has TWO numbering lines printed on it and the image is obviously WAY out of register.

 

[diggummup]

Did you try putting a puzzle together yet?