Filling in Gaps - 1965-66 Topps Hockey

While I'll likely never have the time or money to complete every vintage set I want, I do think every good collection should at least have some sampling of cards from each of the major vintage releases. Sometimes when I have a few extra bucks I'll identify a set that is completely absent from my collection and pick up a couple of cards. I don't look for anything special, any commons will do and condition isn't important.

Most recently I did this with 1965-66 Topps hockey. O-Pee-Chee and Parkhurst weren't releasing sets at the time, so Topps was the only major release this particular year. The Topps set was only 128 cards, so it's possible that this is one I may be able to complete someday. For now I'm going to enjoy the two cards I purchased. I picked up card #30, Billy Hicke, for $1.04. Billy's in fairly rough shape, with a couple of creases and a mysterious blue stain covering a large part of the card back. I also picked up card #33, Al Langlois of the Boston Bruins for less than $2. Al's card is in better shape, with no creases or stains, just a bit off-center:

The card fronts are kind of boring. The plain, single-colored backgrounds kind of remind me of 1958 Topps baseball. The backs on the other hand, are pretty cool:

You get stats for the 1964-65 season, along with a brief paragraph about the player (in both English and French). The bottoms are the best part, as each card features a large puck with a trivia question related to the player. You're supposed to rub a coin over the blank space to reveal the answer. In this case I learned that Al was acquired in a straight swap for Ron Ingram. I'm not sure if someone scratched this off a long time ago, or if the passage of time has started to bring the answer to the limelight.

I may never get the other 126 cards, but for now Al and Billy are a welcome part of my collection.