Indian Chiefs, 1968

Locked away in my memory bank are these illustrations of Indian Chiefs that were given away inside packets of bubble gum cards over 50 years ago. These little stamps had gum on the back and were designed to be cut away from their yellow frames at the perforations, and affixed to the backs of the cards.

I don't have mine anymore, but stumbling on some images online has just stirred up my recollections of spending what seemed like ages studying these wonderful faces that were stuck onto a half a dozen or so of the fist-full of bubble gum cards that were my constant companions when I was about 7 years old...

Perhaps there is someone out there who has discovered who painted the Indian heads? There are no credits anywhere. I wonder what happened to the original illustrations?

A sub-set of 22 Indian Chief Stamps were included with 'The Legend of Custer' cards issued by A&BC gum in 1968. The cards and stamps were never actually produced for the US market. In fact the original 1967 American television series, simply called 'Custer', had already been cancelled in the States after only 17 episodes. 

The title of the UK card set relates to the 1968 feature film which cobbled together material from the pilot show and several other 'Custer' episodes. The series was an historically inaccurate account of the life and times of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, assigned to command the 7th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hays in 1867.