1979 Monty Gum : Superman
The Monty Gum Superman trading cards were released in 1979 by Monty
Fabrieken, a confectionary and printing company in Leiden, Holland. The paper
envelope packs contain three cards and a piece of bubble gum. A complete set
is comprised of 64 cards featuring images from
Superman: The Movie starring Christopher Reeve. The Monty Gum
series was released in two sizes with identical images and wrapper art.
The smaller variants come in perforated three-card panels that each measure
1.875 x 2.6875 inches (48 x 68 mm). The wrappers for the smaller cards read
"Made & Printed in Holland" with no additional information. The mini cards
contain numbering printed inside of the Superman emblem. The image frames vary
in color and the back of each card is blank. There is no copyright information
or branding that identifies Monty on the cards. The official logo for Superman: The Movie was not used. Multiple images are repeated or printed in reverse.
The larger cards are not numbered and measure approximately 2.525 x 3.15
inches (64 x 80 mm). The large wrappers contain advertisements for the Monty
Superman Club in Dutch, English, German, and French. Collectors could join the
Monty Superman Club and receive a "giant, magnificant [sic]" Superman
poster by mailing ten empty packets plus 50p in postage.
Monty also released a set of Superman stickers for the film. The series is
comprised of 75 round stickers and 14 others in various sizes. The pack
artwork is identical with text that reads "stickers auto-collant".
Superman: The Movie was released in the Netherlands on February 15, 1979. Identical promotional images from the Richard Donner Superman films
were used in trading cards set issued by
Drake's Cakes,
Topps,
and
Weston Bakeries. Superman: The Movie was promoted in Italy by
Danone and in Spain
by
Coca-Coca.
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During World War II,
the Netherlands had become hooked on chewing gum brought over by American and
Canadian troops. In 1946, Monty Fabrieken was established as a chewing gum
importer in Leiden, Holland, by Huub F.J. Mentink and P.A. De Jong. The name
is a tribute to Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, whom Mentink greatly
admired. The company depicted the black beret worn by Montgomery on early red
wrappers.
Monty began producing trading cards in 1951. The company would distribute card
sets for films, musicians, sports, and television shows. In 1984, Monty was
subpoenaed by Topps
concerning rights to Michael Jackson photographs. A Hague court judge rejected
the case. In a
2018 interview, former Monty director Cess Mentink said, "We had never heard of image
rights in the Netherlands. We did everything ourselves without contracts and
stuff." (auto-translated from Dutch) The company ceased production in 1999.
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The checklist is currently incomplete.
Checklist | |
1979 Monty Fabrieken : Superman | |
1 | Non |
2 | Lara Lor-Van |
3 | Clark Kent |
4 | |
5 | |
6 | |
7 | |
8 | |
9 | |
10 | |
11 | |
12 | |
13 | Superman |
14 | Superman |
15 | |
16 | Superman (reversed) |
17 | |
18 | |
19 | |
20 | |
21 | |
22 | |
23 | |
24 | |
25 | Eve Teschmaster |
26 | |
27 | |
28 | |
29 | |
30 | |
31 | |
32 | |
33 | |
34 | |
35 | |
36 | |
37 | |
38 | |
39 | |
40 | |
41 | |
42 | |
43 | |
44 | |
45 | |
46 | |
47 | |
48 | |
49 | |
50 | |
51 | |
52 | |
53 | |
54 | |
55 | |
56 | |
57 | Non |
58 | |
59 | |
60 | |
61 | Lara Lor-Van |
62 | |
63 | |
64 | Superman (reversed) |