Oldtimers on this board?

[Balticfox]

I bought my first packs of bubble gum cards midway through 1959. How many of you other fellows here on this board have a card buying history that pre-dates my own?

My introduction to cards actually occurred in 1957 or early 1958 before I started first grade when my older sister bought a pack of Hit Stars and brought the cards home:



She was looking for Yul Brynner, a search doomed to frustration since there was no Yul Brynner card in the set.

I started first grade in September 1958 and remember admiring Topps Flags of the World, TV Westerns, Zorro and Funny Valentines cards in the schoolyard before I had deep enough pockets to actually buy any cards:





The first cards I ever owned though were four Topps 1958-59 Hockey cards which I gathered off the street one late February or early March day in 1959. The first three were Detroit Red Wings, but the last was a Chicago Blackhawk. When I saw that big Indian head on the red uniform, I knew that was my favourite team - even though I might have had trouble reading the team name at the time!



I then admired the 1959 Baseball cards in the schoolyard:



But the first cards I ever bought and collected were the Topps 1959 CFL cards:





And that was it for me, game, set and match! I've been addicted to card collecting ever since (though I was able for the most part to put aside my addiction for a few years between 1965 and 1979).

How about you other fellows? What were the first cards you ever bought or collected?