1979 Monty Gum : Superman



1979 Monty Fabrieken - 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.

1979 Monty Fabrieken - Superman - Lois Lane

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.

1979 Monty Fabrieken - Superman - 1–2

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.

1979 Monty Fabrieken - Superman - General Zod

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)