The original Topps
Star Wars card collection ran three of the six years that the original films ran (1977-1983).*
For
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, or simply '
Star Wars' as we knew it in 1977, tops produced five series of cards. While each wave had its own unique colour, they all followed the chronological numbering system established in the first series to give collectors a total of 330 cards and 55 stickers. The series breakdown like this:
Series 1: Blue with White Stars. Cards ran #1-#66 and Stickers ran #1-#11.
Series 2: Red. Cards ran #67-#132 and Stickers ran #12-#22.
Series 3: Yellow. Cards ran #133-#198 and Stickers ran #23-#33.
Series 4: Green. Cards ran #199-#264 and Stickers ran #34-#44.
Series 5: Orange. Cards ran #265-#330 and Stickers ran #45-#55.
Topps returned with new cards in 1980. This collection was based on
The Empire Strikes Back and featured three waves. In total, there were 352 cards and 88 stickers. Like the
Star Wars cards, this collection carried the numbering system established in the first series all the way through to the third. Here's how they broke down:
Series 1: red. Cards ran #1-#132 and Stickers ran #1-#33.
Series 2: Blue. Cards ran #133-#264 and Stickers ran #34-#66.
Series 3: Yellow. Cards ran #265-#352 and Stickers ran #67-#88.
Finally, as you'd expect, Topps put
Star Wars back in the candy aisle in 1983 with two waves based on
Return Of The Jedi. Collectively, this collection gave us 120 cards and 55 stickers. This is what they released:
Series 1: red. Cards ran #1-#132 and Stickers ran #1-#33.
Series 2: Blue. Cards ran #133-#220 and Stickers ran #34-#55.
Check out this auction for a
framed uncut sheet of Topps' Return Of The Jedi series one stickers.
*Topps produced other
Star Wars products during this period, but we'll save that topic for another day.
