Nigel's Webspace - Galleries of English and Scottish Football Cards - 1965/66 to 1979/80

I'm sure that counter boxes were around from the early days of A&BC Chewing Gum, but I'm not aware of any images of any boxes before 1964/65. I do know that chewing gum in it's early days was distributed through gum machines, so perhaps there was no need for counter boxes in the early days. For the 1964/65 set this attractive box held 72 packets, each for sale for 2d. The packets each contained two player cards (photos) and a piece of gum.

The English 1964/65 Footballers set was issued in three series, Series 1 (1 to 58), Series 2 (59 to 103) and Series 3 (104 to 149). The Scottish set of 81 green backed 'Quiz' cards was issued in two series: 1-44 and 45-81. I think that these cards were issued with the same packet and this one style of counter box.

English 'Quiz' set cards:
Gallery: Series 1, Series 2, Series 3
Checklists: Set checklist, Team checklist

Scottish 'Quiz' set cards:
Gallery: Set gallery
Checklists: Set checklist, Team checklist

The timing of these sets is not clear. According to the best sources I know there were no football cards produced for the 1965/66 season, though Tony Coakley (one of the company founders) once told me that they relied so much of the income from the football cards that they would never have skipped a season. However, it appears that the new style black and white double photograph English cards appeared in 1966/67 and the colour double Scottish cards in 1967/68 (which again is strange as it suggests a three year break for new Scottish card sets).

There is only one known wrapper style for these photographs, and one style of counter box. The packets cost 3d, and included six player photos (3 pairs) and a piece of gum. There were 48 packets to a box.

English set cards:
Gallery: Series 1 (1-110), Series 2 (111-220)
Checklists: Series 1 (1-110), Team checklist
Checklists: Series 2 (111-220), Team checklist


Scottish set cards:
Gallery: Set gallery
Checklists: Set checklist, Team checklist

The packets cost 3d, and included a football card, a pin-up picture of an England Star and a piece of gum. There were 48 packets to a box.

I'm not aware that there was a Scottish set of cards for the 1967/68 season.

The packets cost 3d, with 48 packets to a box.

The English yellow back cards were issued in two series, with the pennants given away with Series 1 and the Team Emblems with Series 2.

The Scottish yellow back cards were issued as a single series and included team pennants but not emblems. It is therefore possible that the Scottish cards were issued with the English Series 1 box, or that there is a counter box specifically for the Scottish cards.

The packets cost 3d, with 48 packets to a box.

The English green back cards were issued in three series, with black and white photographs given away with Series 2 and 3. The counter boxes for Series 2 and 3 have 'New series'. Tony and Douglas Coakley, past Directors of A&BC, have confirmed that the new series were issued as the season progressed to entice buyers to continue buying cards throughout a season.

In 1969/70 the Scottish set of cards had blue backs and included the black and white photographs, though featuring different players from the English issue. The only player who appeared in both the English and Scottish photograph sets was Alan Gilzean, whose image appears on the counter box. Coincidence, or perhaps evidence that the same counter box was used for the English and Scottish sets.

The packets cost 6d, with 48 packets to a box. In each packet you received a piece of gum, a World Cup poster and a gold-edged football card.

The packets cost 6d, with 48 packets to a box.

The interesting thing about this counter box is that it mentions the terms 'pin-up poster' and 'superstar'. The English series is believed to have 14 pin-ups, while the Scottish series had 28 pin-ups, perhaps with the second series of pin-ups referred to as 'Superstars'. I therefore think that this counter box (kindly sent in by Steve) is from the Scottish set.

The packets cost 2p, with 60 packets to a box.

The English purple back cards were issued in three series, with club crests given away with Series 2 and superstar stamps given away with Series 3. The displayed box is therefore for Series 2.

The Scottish purple back cards were only issued in two series and included the club crest giveaway.

The packets cost 4p, with 36 packets to a box.