zackmak
New Member, Must Send First
From what I understand Topps printed their own cards for the first set they produced in 1954-55. Thus, it only had English on the back.
According to Wikipedia, OPC entered an agreement with Topps to produce their cards going forward...so the second release (1957-58) had English AND French on the back, as did the next releases.
My first set of questions are:
1. With the 1954-55 set being only in English and only printed in the US, did Topps distribute these cards to the US only, hence Canada never saw this release?
2. If O-Pee-Chee started printing them in 1957-58, why did they not make an English-only set for the USA, and a English-French set for Canada (like the norm was from 1968-69 onward)? My first guess is that, since these cards were going to be distributed in Canada too, Topps made the decision to include French on them...and making a second run with JUST English would have been too much of an added expense...so they just used the same cards for release in the USA.
From 1968-69 onward, there were two distinctly-branded sets (though 'identical' in design) - OPC and Topps.
3. Wasn't Topps the company that still owned the NHL licence, though...and OPC was simply a 'printing/distributing' partner?
4. If Topps was distributing sets in the US and Canada - with both English and French on them anyways - what was the point of making a duplicate set with the same criteria, but only to have OPC as the brand stuck on the front/wrapper? Card-set size aside, was it only to finally give Canada its 'own version', per se, while Topps was adamant to just put English on their cards going forward?
Was it because Topps found a way to print the cards in the US now (thus cheaper) and there was no need to keep the French on there anymore? BUT, to keep distributing in Canada, they decided to let OPC print their own 'similar' sets...and get the privilege of putting their 'OPC' brand on the cards, finally?
Thanks for any help. Maybe I answered part of my own questions with thoughts above, but it's good to confirm.
According to Wikipedia, OPC entered an agreement with Topps to produce their cards going forward...so the second release (1957-58) had English AND French on the back, as did the next releases.
My first set of questions are:
1. With the 1954-55 set being only in English and only printed in the US, did Topps distribute these cards to the US only, hence Canada never saw this release?
2. If O-Pee-Chee started printing them in 1957-58, why did they not make an English-only set for the USA, and a English-French set for Canada (like the norm was from 1968-69 onward)? My first guess is that, since these cards were going to be distributed in Canada too, Topps made the decision to include French on them...and making a second run with JUST English would have been too much of an added expense...so they just used the same cards for release in the USA.
From 1968-69 onward, there were two distinctly-branded sets (though 'identical' in design) - OPC and Topps.
3. Wasn't Topps the company that still owned the NHL licence, though...and OPC was simply a 'printing/distributing' partner?
4. If Topps was distributing sets in the US and Canada - with both English and French on them anyways - what was the point of making a duplicate set with the same criteria, but only to have OPC as the brand stuck on the front/wrapper? Card-set size aside, was it only to finally give Canada its 'own version', per se, while Topps was adamant to just put English on their cards going forward?
Was it because Topps found a way to print the cards in the US now (thus cheaper) and there was no need to keep the French on there anymore? BUT, to keep distributing in Canada, they decided to let OPC print their own 'similar' sets...and get the privilege of putting their 'OPC' brand on the cards, finally?
Thanks for any help. Maybe I answered part of my own questions with thoughts above, but it's good to confirm.