1954–55 Topps Hockey

The 1954–55 Topps hockey set was Topps' first attempt at producing trading cards for the National Hockey League. At the time, the league consisted of six teams known as the Original Six. Topps included all four American teams in this popular 60-card set - Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, and New York Rangers.

As noted on most packaging, the Topps cards were made and printed in U.S.A. Cards were sold in 5-cent packs and 1-cent packs. As written on select packaging, the series was also made and distributed by O-Pee-Chee Co., Ltd. London, Ontario, Canada under license with Topps Chewing Gum Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y.

History

Each card in this set measures approximately 2​5⁄8 in. x 3​3⁄4 in., and features a player photo (in a blue and red line background), team logo, team name, position, and a facsimile autograph. As is typical of most trading cards, the back of the card features biographical information, statistics from the 1953–54 season, and a few notes featuring hockey facts. After this season Topps did not produce a hockey set again for another two years until the 1957 set because the NHL went after Topps for not getting their permission to use the team logos in the card photos.

Card trading

While the set is printed in the United States, a large portion of the actual print run found its way to Canada, as baseball was America's national pastime.

As far as the hobby of trading cards is concerned, this set features only three Rookie Cards, including #18 Doug Mohns, #32 Camille Henry, and #35 Don McKenney. The inclusion of a very early Gordie Howe card is one of the main draws of this set, and the card can be seen trading in the $2000 range when in Near Mint condition. A PSA 9 1954 Topps Gordie Howe card sold for $10,000.00 in the early 2000s.

Cards #1 and #60 are considered to be condition sensitive for two reasons. The first is their placement on the sheet during printing, and the second reason is due to the "rubber band" factor. The "rubber band" factor occurs when a tight rubber band is used to hold a stack of trading cards together, thus damaging the first and last cards in the stack. And in the case of complete sets, this would be cards #1 and #60. A PSA 8 Milt Schmidt #60 sold on eBay in 2005 for $6,000.00.

Another condition sensitive challenge in this set are gum stains. Topps included a stick of bubble gum in every pack a collector would purchase. Two kinds of packs were distributed: Penny packs and nickel packs. Penny packs included only one card increasing the chance greatly of an unsightly gum stain tainting that card.

Card checklist
  1. Dick Gamble
  2. Bob Chrystal
  3. Harry Howell
  4. Johnny Wilson
  5. Red Kelly
  6. Real Chevrefils
  7. Bob Armstrong
  8. Gordie Howe
  9. Benny Woit
  10. Gump Worsley
  11. Andy Bathgate
  12. Bucky Hollingworth
  13. Ray Timgren
  14. Jack Evans
  15. Paul Ronty
  16. Glen Skov
  17. Gus Mortson
  18. Doug Mohns
  19. Leo Labine
  20. Bill Gadsby
  21. Jerry Toppazzini
  22. Wally Hergesheimer
  23. Danny Lewicki
  24. Metro Prystai
  25. Fern Flaman
  26. Al Rollins
  27. Marcel Pronovost
  28. Lou Jankowski
  29. Nick Mickoski
  30. Frank Martin
  31. Lorne Ferguson
  32. Camille Henry
  33. Pete Conacher
  34. Marty Pavelich
  35. Don McKenney
  36. Fleming Mackell
  37. Jim Henry
  38. Hal Laycoe
  39. Alex Delvecchio
  40. Larry Wilson
  41. Allan Stanley
  42. George Sullivan
  43. Jack McIntyre
  44. Ivan Irwin
  45. Tony Leswick
  46. Bob Goldham
  47. Cal Gardner
  48. Ed Sandford
  49. Bill Quackenbush
  50. Warren Godfrey
  51. Ted Lindsay
  52. Earl Reibel
  53. Don Raleigh
  54. Bill Mosienko
  55. Larry Popein
  56. Edgar Laprade
  57. Bill Dineen
  58. Terry Sawchuk
  59. Marcel Bonin
  60. Milt Schmidt
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