3 Uncataloged 1955 Hocus Focus Discovered

[toppcat]

Bob-wow, amazing find.

Since so many checklists mix up the two sets, I am visually confirming each entry and then entering full details in a spreadsheet for both sizes of cards. I think this latest find brings the '55 (smaller cards) list to six visually confirmed front and back, although I assume the balance of the BB players you list are correctly identified in the Standard Catalog so the real number of confirmed cards is closer to 25.

The only panels I have ever seen for the "larger" Hocus Focus cards all are comprised of four cards, I have never seem six on a panel and a page from the Topps corporate files shows a four card panel. I believe the six card panels you refer to are 48/49 Magic Photos (the wrappers for both Penny and Nickel Magic Photos were re-purposed for the Hocus Focus cards with 1955 copyright instead of 1948 on the penny pack and no date on the later Hocus Focus nickel). The Penny wrapper was essentially unchanged, the nickel wrapper was reworked a bit. Here's a scan of the '56 Hocus Focus nickel wrapper:



You can see the reference to 6 Magic Photos has been deleted, as has the "Bubble Gum In Color" line.

FYI-I am not certain the album you refer to is for the 55's, do you have a scan of it? I cannot swear to either the 121 or 126 set total for the smaller cards (and have even seen 131 referred to but assume that is a typo) but suspect one of them is correct. The larger cards, commonly referred to as 56's, I am 99.9999% certain at this point stopped at #96.

I still need front and back scans of the following larger Hocus Focus cards, which will have either one or two perforated sides (number refers to the black circle on back, not the sub-series numbering) to complete the checklist:

2,8,9,11,16,26,32,34,40,41,43,48,56,57,60,67,76,79 ,83,95. Some of these are the series of 18 Baseball Stars.

When it come to the Hocus Focus sets, you can never assume in my experience.

Now, who can shed some light on variations in the 48/49 Magic Photos set?!