"The blue and yellow wrapper attracted the small ten year old
boy's attention. Pulling at his father's coat sleeve he was
rewarded with a quarter. "Lost in Space bubble gum" said the
bright yellow letters, which floated on the white starred blue
background. Plunking down his quarter, the boy walked away with
five of the packs. Opening the wrappers, he finds picture cards
and one small slab of crummy gum. He was ecstatic, this was his
favorite show..." - Brad Knight (Galaxy Gift #5, 1979)
The Lost in Space Topps Gum Card set came on the scene in 1966.
The set consisted of 55 black & white photos with narration
on the back in pink ink. Photos depicted are based on scenes
from the LIS pilot and first seven episodes from the first season.
There is no mention of Lost in Space on any of the cards, front or back.
According to text on the back of the cards, the set is supposed to tell
the story of the first episode of Lost in Space called "The Reluctant
Stowaway." However, the set actually depicts not only scenes from the
series premiere but also scenes drawn from other early first season
episodes such as "The Hungary Sea" and "Welcome Stranger." Two cards
from the set are particularly noteworthy: card #53 ("The Battle
Begins") showing John Robinson using his rocket belt circling
the cyclops and card #54 ("In Death's Grip") where John is shown being
held by the cyclops. These two cards depict scenes that existed neither
in the pilot or the TV series. It is believed that they were scenes
from the pilot which ended up on the cutting-room floor.
In 1987 there was a major find of Lost in Space in a mid-western city
(believed to be either Chicago or Detroit). Apparently between 1 to 3
cases of unopened boxes were found in an old candy warehouse. Although
initially the incredible find appeared to affect the prices of
LIS cards and boxes, it has now been completely absorbed into the
market. In fact, the original LIS card set is now one of the most
sought after LIS collectibles. Today putting together a mint LIS set
is becoming increasingly more difficult. Indeed when mint sets do hit
the market they invariably sell for well in excess of $US1000. Full
boxes are hardly ever seen and even empty boxes are hard to come by.
Two unauthorized sets of Topps reprints have also been issued. The first
one appeared around 1990 and was printed on fairly cheap card stock.
An identifying feature of this set is that the backs of the cards were
printed in black rather than the pink of the originals. The second limited
edition set was issued in 1995 and was printed on better card stock and
featured much sharper images. The main identifying feature of this
set is that there are no drawn cartoon-style illustrations on the back.
Two promotional limited edition sets of 4 cards were also issued with
the second set.
Portantiere, Nick. "Lost in Space Forever." Non-Sport Update
February/March 1995 Vol 6, No. 1: 5,58-59