Following my recent in-depth inspection of the elusive 1977 Topps Star Wars French Wax Packs and Boxes and the documentation of unopened items from the U.S. Topps Star Wars sets on the Unopened Archive, I thought it was time to develop another resource. This post will document the variations in 1977 Star Wars trading card wrappers worldwide, spanning the U.S., U.K./Ireland, France, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina.
1977 and 1978 Topps Star Wars Wax Wrappers
First, here are the five (six with a variation) wrappers Topps Chewing Gum released in the U.S.A. Each series had 66 cards and 11 stickers.
You can check out more unopened material for each series on the Unopened Archive (Series 1, Series 2, Series 3, Series 4, Series 5).
1977 O-Pee-Chee Star Wars Wax Wrappers
O.P.C. released three Star Wars trading card series in Canada with French translations. While the first two series of O.P.C. cards followed the American release with 66 numbered cards and 11 numbered stickers, the 3rd Series O.P.C. set had 132 numbered cards and 22 numbered stickers (combining cards from series 3-5 from the U.S. set).
There may be a few variations of the 1st Series O.P.C. wrapper, but for now, I’ll include what appears to be the most common one.
1977 Topps Star Wars U.K./Ireland Wax Wrappers
Two series of Star Wars cards were released in the U.K./Ireland. The packs were sold with and without gum, so sometimes you will see graded packs with a “gumless” variation tag. The 2nd Series U.K. packs have red-bordered A-Series cards and are really rare; I actually can’t find a wrapper photo, so I’ve included a graded wax pack below. The big difference on the wrapper is the copyright information for Topps Ireland and advertisements for Palitoy toys rather than Kenner in the U.S.
1977 Topps Star Wars French Wrapper
The French Star Wars packs held standard American Series 1 or 2 cards, but a different advertisement was printed on them (Mecanno). As I shared in the intro, I did a deep dive into the packs and wrappers a few weeks ago, but I did track down a pretty nifty roll of wrappers since then.
1977 Topps Star Wars Mexico Wrappers
Only the 66 blue-bordered Series 1 cards corresponding to the U.S. set were released in Mexico. However, the text was translated into Spanish, and no stickers were included. The cards came in packs of two. Laboratorios y Agencies Unidas utilized three wrappers (modified from the first three series of U.S. sets) variations in boxes. The wrappers were printed on a much ‘waxier” type of paper and can appear translucent.
1977 Topps Scanlens Australia Star Wars Wrapper
Scanlens released 72 1977 Star Wars cards in Australia. Cards 1-66 matched the U.K. issue, but 67-72 were more like the U.S. stickers and were inserted randomly in the packs.
1977 Topps Allen’s & Regina New Zealand Star Wars Wrapper
Sixty-six cards were released in New Zealand, and while the wrappers stand out uniquely compared to the other countries (and are particularly rare), the cards are tough to distinguish.
1977 Star Wars Argentina Wrapper
The familiar C-3PO-based layout from many other national releases was used on the Argentinan Star Wars release. Each pack had one cardboard puzzle piece or character card and a few paper cards that could be stuck in an album. I’ve included a graded pack since I’m unsure about these wrappers. The Wikipedia Star Wars Trading card entry says the Argentinian release had 66 cards, 11 stickers, and 16 puzzle pieces.
You can see that to distribute cards internationally, Topps partnered with companies in other countries like O-Pee-Chee Co. Ltd in Canada and Scanlens in Australia leading to a treasure trove of diversity amongst wrappers and card series releases.
Also, if you’re seeking a great reference on wax pack wrappers for non-sports cards, I highly recommend Wax Pack Wrappers from the 20th Century & Beyond. It has a wealth of information; here’s a photo of the book’s cover and the two pages devoted to the Star Wars wrappers.
And If you’re interested in wax wrappers in general, you might also be interested in reading these three articles:
- 1957 Topps Baseball Wrappers
- 5 Great Wax Pack Wrappers
- 5 Hockey Wrappers Manufacturers Probably Wouldn’t Use Today
I also occasionally share some unique wrappers in the weekly Post War Cards Newsletter (#35, for example), so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss them.