As *spoon* as Arch comes back from vacation Hepcat will still be Hepcat.

8 8

Is that a generic bottle or is it embossed with the name of some local dairy?

It is just generic...but very surprised it still has the cap.Found in the recycle box,along with the Uptown and other soda bottles.

Do you ever get together with these fellows?

Bytown Antique & Bottle Club

I have not gotten together,per say ,but have met many at shows/fairs and swaps.

I preffer the hunt in second hand stores and rubbish bins even though finds are few and far these days with EVERYplace being scoured.

Still no lick on a Baxters bottle,believe it or not.

 

A collection of vintage Australian (or British) cricket and Rugby League cards would get my unqualified seal of approval!

 

Well, here are some I've got in 'bucket. The Cricket cards are particularly hard to find - took me ages to complete the set.

The Rugby League cards are a slightly different matter. There's a lot more of them and I still need a few.

I was fortunate enough to have a mother that encouraged my collecting pursuits, early on by not throwing any of my junk out and later by making suggestions (my father however . . . ).

What this means is that now I find myself trying to find stuff that didn't survive (hello perished GI Joe SCUBA outfit) or securing stuff that I coveted back in the day that I just couldn't afford - then.

Well, here are some I've got in 'bucket. The Cricket cards are particularly hard to find - took me ages to complete the set.

 

The Rugby League cards are a slightly different matter. There's a lot more of them and I still need a few.

1. From what years are those two sets?

2. I see that the Rugby League cards were issued by Scanlen's and I know that Scanlen's distributed Topps cards in Australia. Were then the cricket cards also issued by Scanlen's?

3. Which of the two sets is more highly prized and collected in Australia?

The very first cards I ever collected as a kid were a uniquely Canadian set from 1959 printed by Topps in the United States but issued/marketed by O-Pee-Chee of London, Ontario which had been marketing all of Topps' products in Canada since the early fifties:

I gave all my Australian Rules Football Scanlens cards to my brother last year. He took on our father's collection of turn of the (20th) century and later cigarette cards, and is the 'cardie' in the family. I wish I'd kept a few scans to show here, but I stole this one from eBay:

This 'woodgrain TV set' look are the first cards I remember collecting as a kid, back in 1967. The reverse of the card is part of a larger image that the 72 cards in the set made up. The picture is an action shot from the 1966 grand Final (= Superbowl equivalent). I used to love making up the big picture!

Excellent!

I was hoping you'd show up.

Now, explain the difference between Rugby League, Rugby Union and Australian Rules.

In 25 words or less

Well, here are some I've got in 'bucket. The Cricket cards are particularly hard to find - took me ages to complete the set.

 

The Rugby League cards are a slightly different matter. There's a lot more of them and I still need a few.

 

1. From what years are those two sets?

 

The Cricket set is from 1965, the Rugby League cards posted are from 1968 - but Scanlens released two Rugby League sets in 1968.

 

One of 44 cards. Nothing special. Then

 

a second series of 40 cards plus 12 "Team Crest" cards

 

Think early chase card, except I am pretty sure there were plenty of these printed, but none were saved. What kid wants a drawing of the team "crest"?

 

The next year, 1969, Scanlens issued a "base" set of 48 cards plus 18 die-cut cards.

 

These die cut cards are the bane of my existence very hard to find "unmolested" i.e. still "unpopped".

 

The Crest and die-cut cards are the hardest to find.

 

 

2. I see that the Rugby League cards were issued by Scanlen's and I know that Scanlen's distributed Topps cards in Australia. Were then the cricket cards also issued by Scanlen's?

 

Yup.

 

3. Which of the two sets is more highly prized and collected in Australia?

 

Good question. Owing to the "tribal" nature of football here (Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory love Australian Rules. New South Wales and Queensland are die hard Rugby League followers) it dilutes the collector base.

 

Cricket, however, is universally appreciated. So I'd have much more competition for cricket cards, let alone other cricket memorabilia. Those guys are maniacs.

The very first cards I ever collected as a kid were a uniquely Canadian set from 1959 printed by Topps but issued by O-Pee-Chee.

 

As is obvious, all these sets are uniquely printed and distributed in Australia.

 

 

I might throw some scans of some of the other cards up - the backs are somewhat interesting.

Excellent!

 

I was hoping you'd show up.

 

Now, explain the difference between Rugby League, Rugby Union and Australian Rules.

 

In 25 words or less

 

I'm not Aussie, but have sampled all three sports during my many visits. In 25 words or less: Aussie Rules is worth watching, while either rugby version is boring as hell.

It is just generic...but very surprised it still has the cap.

There's a whole subset of dairy collectors who collect specifically milk caps. Besides the aesthetic appeal of the various caps (which were almost invariably printed in only two colours), they're easy to store. A collection of thousands requires only several binders.

What draws many individuals to collecting dairy artifacts is the way these dairy items tie-in to local history. A city the size of Toronto had hundreds of small dairies in the early part of the twentieth century. As recently as 1961 there were still 1710 dairies in Canada. There were so many local dairies back in the day that milk bottle collecting is very regional in nature, i.e. enthusiasts stick to collecting bottles from a certain municipality, state or province.

The tie-in to local history is also one of the primary reasons why there are so many railroad hobbyists, e.g. the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway is very popular with railroad modellers in Ottawa.

Owing to the "tribal" nature of football here (Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory love Australian Rules. New South Wales and Queensland are die hard Rugby League followers) it dilutes the collector base.

Hmmmm. It sounds therefore as if Rugby Union has only a niche following. Were any Rugby Union cards ever released by Scanlen's or any other issuer?

What was the Scanlen's gum like? Did Scanlen's also market penny bubble gum in the fifties and sixties?

Rugby Union was a niche game. It has always been a far more international game than League, but up until 1995 at every level it was an amateur sport.

No one got paid more than expenses and "walking around money".

Well, that's the way it was supposed to work, but the "unpaid" business was honored more in the breach than the observance. Think American college sports.

Anyway, no Rugby Union cards that I am aware of until the code became professional in 1995.

The gum wasn't bad. Not a lot of it, but palatable enough.

Scanlens first issued sports cards in 1963, a series of 18 Australian Rules players https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanlens

It should be remembered that in 1963 the Australian population was less than 11 million. Canada, same year, a little under 19 million.

These cards also had no appeal (and were not distributed) in any areas other than where the sport(s) were popular.

No wonder they are hard to find.

To answer your last question, did Scanlens market penny bubble gum in the fifties and sixties?

I think so, but it was only when the sports cards started in 1963 that things got going. I'd love someone more knowledgeable than me to chime in here.

Got photobucket working again (shout out to topofthetotem and Harry Lime) so here are some further card scans.

This is the back of the cricket cards. Nothing outstanding, but it is interesting that the (then) Australian wicketkeeper, Wally Grout, has had his name enter the Australian language as rhyming slang.

When in a drinking situation, a group of drinkers will take it in turns to "shout" or buy that round of drinks.

"Shout" then becomes "whose Wally Grout is it?" This is then, perversely, even further truncated and obscured to become "whose Wally is it"?

This really is a weird place at times.

Next are examples of the "crest" cards. Really boring, but so essential (and expensive) for the completest:

Lastly, here are the cursed die-cut cards. This is the state in which they are usually found, a "border" torn from around the subject so that the card can be "stood up".

Why one would want to stand the things up, I have no idea.

Here are a few more I have managed to find "unmolested".

Next are examples of the "crest" cards. Really boring, but so essential (and expensive) for the completest:

 

I think the crest cards are even more interesting than the player cards, but of course I'm not exactly an Australian football fan. Still a team named the Rabbitos is very cool!

Here are a few more I have managed to find "unmolested".

 

Unmolested is king for us collectors!

Speaking of regional football leagues/associations, for the first time ever I volunteered to help out at last weekend's Grey Cup Festival here in Toronto. My duties were primarily directing people to various events. As such I had fun because I got to meet many other equally fanatical Canadian football fans.

I also got the chance to try out the obstacle course set up by the Canadian Armed Forces. I wasn't at all pleased with my performance and I still have skinned and bruised elbows.

In addition I took advantage of the opportunity to get my picture taken with Milt Stegall up on the The Sports Network desk.

Milt retired after the 2008 season with the lifetime CFL marks for pass receptions, receiving yardage and touchdowns, the last of which isn't likely to be broken any year soon. He's been working as a commentator for TSN since 2009 and he's really good at it.

Since the ticket prices were set substantially higher than ever before this year, the game wasn't entirely sold out. We volunteers were therefore given free tickets to the game. Mine had a face value of $599 and was on the thirty yard line about twenty rows from the field!

The fellow sitting to my right was big, very big. I realized that he also seemed to be in great condition so I asked him whether he was with any team. Well he turned out to be Peter Dyakowski, a well known offensive lineman with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats!

Peter Dyakowski bio

Peter was with LSU in 2003 when LSU won the U.S. College championship and was the Hamilton Tiger-Cats nominee for Offensive Lineman of the Year in 2011. But best of all he was a first-team Academic All-Canadian while attending high school in Vancouver and was named Canada's Smartest Person by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation after being the victor on the program of the same name in 2012!

It was a great game, one of the very best Grey Cup games ever played. The 16-2-1 Calgary Stampeders had fallen behind 27-7 to the 9-9-1 Ottawa RedBlacks early in the third quarter but then rallied furiously and had a great chance to win the game with the ball on the Ottawa two yard line with less than a minute to play. Ottawa held though and the Stampeders had to settle for a game tying field goal with seconds to play. But in OT it was RedBlacks receiver Ernest Jackson who made a spectacular grab to score a touchdown that Calgary then failed to match. Final score:

Ottawa RedBlacks 39 Calgary Stampeders 33

It was only the third Grey Cup game out of 104 that went into OT. The two teams combined for a Grey Cup record of 882 passing yards with Ottawa QB Henry Burris accounting for 491 yards and Calgary pivot Bo Levi Mitchell 391 yards. Burris also tied the Grey Cup record Ricky Ray of the Edmonton Eskimos set in 2005 with 35 completions. His 35 completions were also a personal high in a game for Burris as well as an Ottawa club record. Like I say, it was one of the most exciting Grey Cup games ever!

Peter though looked wistful after the game. He was clearly wishing that he and the rest of his Tiger-Cat teammates hadn't come up short again and were the ones celebrating a Grey Cup victory on the field.

The Dragon's Lair video game showcased an innovative new technology on its release in 1983. To be able to control the action/plotline of a cartoon was simply amazing at the time! Video games have unfortunately moved away from cartoon animation since the mid-eighties.

Here are some pictures of my Dragon's Lair lunchbox and thermos:

Do you have a Space Ace lunchbox as well?