Large Number Studio Series

Set facts

Cards

145

Numbering

#1–145

Printing

Color

About the set

• Issued 1957–58. Numbered 1–145, 145 cards in all, in colour.
• The first set Cumulus of Stockholm produced entirely on its own.
• Nos 1–100 mix western heroes and film stars. Nos 101–145 are almost all Elvis Presley and Tommy Steele, with Paul Anka, Terry Dene, Brigitte Bardot and the cast of "Around the World in 80 Days".
• Sold in ten-card packs. The first packs, "Bild-Kalender. År 1957", held ten cards of this set. Other wrappers read "Bild-Kalendarium" with a pack number and "★ Serie A" or "Serie: Filmstjärnor och populära scenartister i strålande färgbilder".

Show all 5

• Cumulus kept the same wrappers for its later calendar sets and filled them with leftover cards of this set, so packs sold with 1959 Calendar Set and 1961 Calendar Set often hold these cards too.

Variants and printings

• Some pictures exist in at least four colourings.
• Nos 101–145 come mainly in four colour shades: orange, white, black and grey. Some proof prints have pink where orange should be.
• A whole sheet printed in black and white has been found, probably a proof, and was cut into single cards. A black-and-white run of all 145 probably existed, but not every card is known.
• Sheets were three, four or five cards wide and not always in number order. One strip of Nos 66–69 has perforated edges.

How to recognise

• A large card number at the left, next to the star's name.
• Most cards name the film, often by its Swedish title, and the studio or record company, for example "i "Indian Fighter" United Artists", "i "Sista utposten" Columbia" (The Last Frontier), "i "Främlingen från vidderna" Columbia" (The Man from Laramie) or ""King Creole", Paramount".
• Found laminated and unlaminated, and on both yellowish and white card.
• Nos 1–100 are coloured quite differently from Nos 101–145.

Numbers to know

• No 6–10 and 16–20 never reached the packs. They are known only from a few uncut sheets that were later cut into single cards, perhaps around ten copies of each number. Most are unlaminated, in a darker or lighter print; only one laminated set of the ten is known. They are among the hardest cards there are.
• No 6 also carries a small "26" under the 6. The same ten pictures are Nos 26–30 and 36–40 of 1958 Short Number Series.
• After those ten, Nos 1–5 and 11–15 are the harder part of 1–100. Nos 101–145, the Elvis Presley, Tommy Steele and Paul Anka cards, are clearly harder to find than Nos 21–100.
• Gina Lollobrigida in "Trapets" (Trapeze) is on No 8, 9, 16 and 17; Anita Ekberg in "Zarak" is on No 10 and 56.

Related sets

• 1958 Short Number Series: Nos 26–30 and 36–40 repeat the pictures of No 6–10 and 16–20 here and are easy to find, so most collectors fill those gaps with them.
• 1958 Black & White Elvis–Tommy: one of its cards went into each pack together with nine cards of this set.
• 1959 Calendar Set and 1961 Calendar Set: sold in the same wrappers, often with cards of this set inside.