1978 Wonder Bread Close Encounters of the Third Kind is the second set of trading cards dedicated to the Steven Spielberg blockbuster. This one might be not quite as famous as its Topps counterpart, but it’s also not quite as traditional. It’s a promo set of sorts that acted as incentive for buying bread.
The checklist has just 24 cards with one coming in every specially marked loaf of bread. Each has an image from the movie but really no context. Other than the change in photo, fronts are all the same. There are no captions outside of the movie title’s banner running up the side and the copyright. Backs name the character or whatever’s on the front.
Most of the back is about getting people to sign up for the CE3K Skywatchers club to encourage people to keep a look out for UFOs.
Although the copyright on the cards say 1977, it appears that the set actually came out in the spring of 1978. Ads found in comics list the promotion as running from March 20 to April 30, 1978.
Variations
Although the basic checklist has 24 cards, each actually has two different versions. The difference isn’t a big one but it is easy to spot. The key is in the “Close Encounters” on the front.
The title can be found with two different colors for the lettering, white and yellow.
One doesn’t appear to be more rare or valuable than the other.
Where’s Roy?
The aliens might be the most memorable characters in Close Encounters, but Richard Dreyfuss is the star. He plays Roy Neary in the film, a family man who becomes obsessed with finding out what happened when he spotted a UFO.
Despite being the central character and the biggest name in the cast, Dreyfuss is nowhere to be found in the set. His absence is even more noticeable in the Topps set that actually aims to retell the story.
1978 Wonder Bread Close Encounters of the Third Kind Checklist
24 cards.
Each card has white and yellow letter variations.
Buy on eBay:
1 Barry Guiler
2 Jillian Guiler
3 Ronnie Neary
4 Claude Lacombe
5 The Leader
6 The Visitors
7 Neary’s First Encounter
8 Barry’s First Encounter
9 At the Toll Booth
10 The Light
11 A Close Encounter for Barry
12 The Sound is Heard in India
13 Barry’s Model
14 Neary’s Model
15 Devil’s Tower
16 Hiding from the Helicopter
17 The Base Camp
18 Visitors Examine the Base Camp
19 A Small Space Ship
20 The Red Space Ship
21 The Mother Ship at Devil’s Tower
22 The Mother Ship at the Base Camp
23 The Light Board
24 A Friendly Greeting
