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.