1959-60 Topps
Complete. Bold colors, white edges, boring photographs. A couple of interesting action cards though…
Decade : 1950s
Due in part to the Great Depression and WWII, we didn't really see any hockey card releases after the late 1930s. But then there was a flurry of releases from both Topps and Parkhurst, starting with the iconic 1951-52 Parkhurst set. These two companies had quite the battle throughout the decade, where each manufacturer would only include certain teams in their releases.
1958-59 Topps
Complete. The 1958-59 Topps set is home to the Bobby Hull rookie, and the famous Gordie Howe card where his name is misspelled "Gordy."
1957-58 Topps
Complete. A couple of cards are a bit banged up, but they're all here, including a graded Bucyk rookie.
1954-55 Parkhurst
Complete. This was actually the very first Bruins team set I successfully compiled, but read on to see why I ended up having to complete it twice…
1954-55 Topps
Complete. This set is really tough to come by in good condition, because they're just a little bit bigger than standard cards. When stacked with other cards, the blue at the bottom edge and corners tends to turn to white.
1953-54 Parkhurst
Complete. While I'm missing the half-corrected Fleming Mackell variation with only the French bio, I do not consider this team set incomplete without it. There are only 6 copies known to PSA, making it scarcer than the 1966-67 Topps USA Test Bobby Orr RC (~250 copies) and 1971 Bazooka Orr (~80 copies).
1952-53 Parkhurst
Complete. Rookie cards comprise almost half the set.
1951-52 Parkhurst
Complete. 1951-52 Parkhurst, the set that essentially started this whole blog.
1951 Berk Ross
Complete. 1951-52 Berk Ross features only four hockey cards in total, and only a single Boston Bruins player: Bill Quackenbush.