Is this the greatest Leif card of all time?

Rather than discovering Vinland, Leif looks like he has discovered why you don't stick a fork in the toaster.

This might be my new favourite card.  At the very least, it’s the one that brings the biggest smile to my face when I’m looking at it.  It is every bit as much fun in person as it appears to be in the scan, and that is not always the case.

This is Leif Ericson (not the way I’ve normally seen it spelled, but whatever), card 126 of the 1952 Topps Look ‘n See set.  This is an absolutely wonderful non-sports set that proves that the “hide an answer behind some reddish ink” trick used in 1960-61 Topps hockey was not at all unique to that set.  Look ‘n See wasn’t even the first Topps set to use this – a 1949 product called X-Ray Roundup had it as well. I have yet to get one of those.

In all three cases , a pack of cards came with a little strip of red cellophane (or cellophane-like material) that one could place over the card to find information hidden under the red ink, either the answer to a question, an image, or both.  I have never seen this strip.  I don’t think many survived.  Once again, red acetate comes to the rescue:

I’m not sure that the good folks of Newfoundland and Labrador would be so much in agreement with that answer, but hey, it’s cool all the same.

The Look ‘n See set contained cards of people from all walks of life.  You could get Amelia Earhart, Will Bill Hickock, Machiavelli or Eisenhower.  I want to put Ericson here together in a sheet between Gandhi and Einstein.  I think that would just work. 

Lester Pearson gets a card in this set, long before he became famous as the inventor or peacekeeping or as a Canadian Prime Minister.  I need to get his card to find out why he merited consideration in 1952.

Now, since this blog is ostensibly about sports cards, let’s update Leif by about 970 years or so:

Anders, you were a superlative player. I just love this picture oh so much.

Yes, I do know that Norwegians and Swedes aren’t the same thing.  That smile transcends bloodlines.  🙂

Great thanks to Sewingmachineguy on Cards for pointing me to this wonderful set as well as the link to Trading Card Hobbyist, who fleshed out my knowledge.  I think I may just have to collect this set.