“Airplanes” (F223-1)
Joe Lowe Corporation, New York City

• Series Title: Airplanes
• Manufactured by: Joe Lowe Corporation, New York City, New York
• Packaged With: Sicle Red Ball Frozen Confections
• Number of Cards: 76
• Numbering: A-1 to A-42 and AA-43 to AA-76
• Card Dimensions: 60 × 95 mm
• Circa: 1959
• Checklist: Download

Overview

When collecting this series of airplane cards, it is best to first understand the origin of the cards’ artwork. During the 1950s, the plastic model kit builder Aurora, New York City, New York, issued their “Famous Fighters” series of plastic model airplane kits. The box-top artwork of this series served as the source of the cropped airplane artwork used for the Sicle Red Ball frozen confections series of airplane trading cards.

According to the Non-Sports Bible (NSB)¹: “This set is often referred to as “Sickle Trading Cards” since these words appear on the Back of every card in the form of a product logo. It also has been referred to as “Air Force Trading Cards”, but it remains unknown as to whether this represents an originally advertised name. See Aurora’s “Famous Fighters” which is of similar design.”

The “Airplanes” (F223-1) or “Sicle Airplane Trading Cards” is divided into two distinct subsets totaling 76 cards. “Series A” contains 42 sequentially numbered cards (#A-1 through #A-42). “Series AA” has 24 sequentially numbered cards (#AA-43 through #AA-76).

The aircraft artwork covers the timeframe from World II through the late 1950s. The artwork included 74 American, one Canadian, and one British aircraft. Bombers, fighters, transports, helicopters, rockets, missiles, and research aircraft were featured. The card fronts featured attractive color lithographs with the title line beneath the image. We know of at least one error card, #AA-74 “Air Force F-105 ” … which is actually a Lockheed F-104 “Starfighter”. We have no evidence that this card was corrected.

The Backs of the cards are printed in red ink. 75% of card Backs are dedicated to generic advertising copy that was used on all 76-cards. The advertising copy includes “Sicle” frozen confections, the manufacturer “Joe Lowe Corporation” and the printer “Kehrkard Litho”. The remaining 25% of the card is contained a lined box which included the card number, card title, and descriptive text. The nominal dimensions of the cards are 60 × 95 mm. The American Card Catalog reference number for the set is F223-1.

F223-1 “Airplanes” Image-Guide

Airplanes The following image guide shows the fronts and Backs of all of the F223-1 “Airplanes” airplane trading cards. The images are divided into the “Series A” subset (42 cards) and the “Series AA” subset (24 cards). Behind each thumbnail image below is a 600-dpi image.

Checklist

We have provided two versions of the F223-1 “Airplanes” checklist. An 8½ × 11 inch PDF version, and the web version shown below. Click on the PDF graphic below to access the PDF version.

Special Thanks

A very special thanks to Albert B. Kramer of Roll-EZ Wheels for loaning us his F223-1 “Sicle Airplane Trading Cards” collection to scan. Be sure to visit Al’s Roll-EZ Wheels website.

References

1. Watson, James C., M.D. “Airplanes.” Non-Sports Bible (NSB). Vol. I. Chelsea, MI: Sheridan, 2007. p.42. Print.
2. Kramer, Albert B. 600-dpi scans of the F223-1 “Airplanes” 76-card set by Joe Lowe Corp.
3. Shupek, John A. The Skytamer Archive. Whittier, CA: Skytamer Images, 2014. Web.

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