1968 Topps Test Team Patches
In 1968, Topps produced a product called "Football Patches." The company apparently test marketed the patches but did not sell them widely, so today they are commonly known as 1968 Topps Test Team Patches. The set includes a total of 44 patches: one for each of the 26 NFL and AFL teams of the time, plus 18 patches of letters and numbers. The wrappers for the patches suggested that kids use the patches to create their own uniforms.
The logos that Topps used on the team patches were the same ones they used on the regular issue 1968 Topps football cards. I am not certain that all off them were official team logos. In particular, I have not seen the Lions or Bills logos anywhere but on football cards, and the Bengals logo that Topps used appears to be an abbreviated version of the team's official logo.
Topps also chose strange colors for the patches' backgrounds. Rather than using the teams' official colors, Topps picked seemingly random ones. The Bears logo, for example, appears on a green background, and the Cowboys logo appears on yellow. This makes the logos look kind of weird.
Finally, included in each pack of patches was a black and white team card of an NFL or AFL team. The team cards are known as 1968 Topps Test Team Photos.
To see a large picture of any card, pick the small picture or the card title.
| Picture | Set | # | Card | Team | Position | College | Honors | Notes | Est. NM Value (?) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 1 | 1 and 2 | ||||||
| 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 2 | 3 and 4 | |||||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 3 | 5 and 6 | ||||||
| 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 4 | 7 and 8 | |||||||
| 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 5 | 9 and 0 | |||||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 6 | A and B | ||||||
| 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 7 | C and D | |||||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 8 | E and F | ||||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 9 | G and H | ||||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 10 | I and W | ||||||
| 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 11 | J and X | |||||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 12 | Atlanta Falcons | Atlanta Falcons | I believe that Topps got the Falcons logo backward. On everything else it's facing the other direction, forming a capital "F." | ||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 13 | Baltimore Colts | Baltimore Colts | |||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 14 | Chicago Bears | Chicago Bears | |||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 15 | Cleveland Browns | Cleveland Browns | Why an elf to represent the Browns? Because some elf-like creatures are called "Brownies." Vince Grzegorek explains. | ||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 16 | Dallas Cowboys | Dallas Cowboys | Dallas's cartoon cowboy is known as Cowboy Joe. | ||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 17 | Detroit Lions | Detroit Lions | I wonder if this was an official Lions logo. I have seen it only on 1961 Fleer and 1968 Topps football cards. | ||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 18 | Green Bay Packers | Green Bay Packers | The white dots on the Packers logo represent Green Bay and Milwaukee. The Packers played some of their home games in Milwaukee from 1933 to 1994. | ||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 19 | Los Angeles Rams | Los Angeles Rams | |||||
 | 1968 Topps Test Team Patches | 20 | Minnesota Vikings | Minnesota Vikings |
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