THE EXITING WORLD OF JAMES BOND (Somportex)
Release Date
1965

Set Configuration:
50 Base cards
3 Cards per pack
Free 007 Badge

Despite of all the gossip distributed by news papers, radio, television etc… Somportex Ltd. immediately launched a new series of James Bond bubble gum cards. These new cards were released at the begin of 1965. A new name was issued for this second series, “The Exiting World Of James Bond”. This new series distinguished itself from the previous cards in the following way. The front only showed a picture but no caption, the reverse side explained the picture on the front. The orange wrapper was replaced by an olive green one. Personally I preferred the orange one, as orange looks better than olive green.
Again this second series contained pictures from the first three James Bond movies. Unfortunately all the beautiful pin-ups were gone. As replacement to the pin-ups, some Aston Martin DB5 publicity shots were added, featuring gadgets on the car not seen in the movies. Cards 43, 44, 45, 46 and 47 were reproductions of guns, used by James Bond in the novels, the pictures came straight out of an article called “The Guns Of James Bond”. This article was published as a supplement with the “The Sunday Times”. The sales for this bubble gum card series were down on the success of the previous series. Perhaps the dads stopped buying due to the lack of saucy pinups, many youngsters were also disappointed because the first set was withdrawn and there was not enough time to collect all the cards from that first set. The cards don’t follow the movie sequence in anyway, cards from “Dr No” pop-up at the end, cards from “Goldfinger” at the start and vice versa. A counter display box as shown here below was auctioned in a lot together with the counter display box from the First Series and the complete card sets for the stunning price of 3382,50 US$ in Las Vegas by Morphy Auctions on the 2nd October 2018.


"Second Series Counter Display Box"

Special thanks to Jelle Vis for the above picture.

"Second Series Badge"
"Second Series Wrapper"

To purchase a complete set of “The Exiting World Of James Bond” today in mint condition, you have to think of a set value between 350€ and 400€. This is an extremely hard set to get hold of and many James Bond collectors have never seen all the cards. Here below you can enjoy the whole series of fifty cards. The text on the wrappers showed the following, “Send 10 wrappers to Somportex Ltd. London EC1 with stamped self addressed envelope for your free 007 badge”. With the previous series you needed twelve wrappers to get the free badge. Today these badges are very rare and extremely hard to find. If one pops up on eBay I expect there will be a bidding war between collectors, including me, but don’t tell my wife.

01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
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

“Rare Colour Cards"

In June 2017 I discovered on eBay some coloured cards. When I contacted the seller, he told me they were issued at the same time. So I wanted a second opinion and contacted Graham Rye, Graham is the editor, designer and publisher of 007 MAGAZINE publications. I received the following answer: "The examples you have attached have been hand-coloured by a child. Somportex only ever released this set in black&white. The cards are *not* genuine!". Below, the coloured cards I discovered on eBay.
002
005
008
037
049

 

Check List:
Base Cards  
[ ] 01 The Sinister Dr. No
[ ] 02 Offshore Chase
[ ] 03 Precious Cargo
[ ] 04 The Attack on Fort Knox
[ ] 05 Aston DB5 General - The Car with Secrets
[ ] 06 Bond At The Ready
[ ] 07 Open Sesame
[ ] 08 It Breathes Flame
[ ] 09 Commando Raid
[ ] 10 Goldfinger Makes His Plan
[ ] 11 Bond And The Girl In The Transmitting Room
[ ] 12 Atomic Warhead Into Position – Casket Of Death!
[ ] 13 She Aims To Kill Goldfinger
[ ] 14 This Man Means Murder
[ ] 15 Colonel Goldfinger
[ ] 16 Bond At Fort Knox
[ ] 17 Korean Killer - The Indestructable Oddjob!
[ ] 18 Bond Takes Aim
[ ] 19 Bond With The Cypher Machine
[ ] 20 Rolls Royce General – Golf And Goldfinger
[ ] 21 Dr. No
[ ] 22 (Bond, Goldfinger and the Laser Ray) At Goldfinger’s Mercy!
[ ] 23 Fighting Back
[ ] 24 Nerve Pistol
[ ] 25 Bond’s Brave Friend[ ] 26 Rosa Klebb
[ ] 27 Oddjob, His Special Hat - And Superhuman Strength
[ ] 28 Bond Runs Away!
[ ] 29 Cheating, Goldfinger Style
[ ] 30 Deadly Cageful
[ ] 31 Steady Now…Take aim.
[ ] 32 Dynamic Nerve Centre
[ ] 33 The Car With A Punch
[ ] 34 Panorama And Performance – 007 And DB5
[ ] 35 James Bond’s Superb Car
[ ] 36 Panic In The Cellars
[ ] 37 The Fire Dragon
[ ] 38 The Bomb De-Fused
[ ] 39 In The Transmitting Room
[ ] 40 Bond - Frogman
[ ] 41 Another Car With A Secret
[ ] 42 The Attack On Fort Knox
[ ] 43 Beretta .25
[ ] 44 Smith & Wesson Centennial Airweight .38 Special
[ ] 45 “Q” Branch Walther PPK 7.65mm
[ ] 46 Berns Martin Shoulder Holster
[ ] 47 Smith & Wesson Magnum .357
[ ] 48 An Expert Shot
[ ] 49 An Expert In Judo
[ ] 50 The Office Of “M”
  

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