ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 2, 1991                   TAG: 9103020367
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Short

TRADING CARDS OF WAR GAINING POPULARITY

The men and machines of the Persian Gulf War have been turned into collectors' items by the same people who helped make Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron worth saving.

Baseball card producer Topps has distributed millions of the new Operation Desert Storm cards, which show Stealth jet fighters and Patriot missiles, President Bush and Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf.

"As soon as the word was out, people were asking for them," said Larry Robbins, owner of Candl Coins & Stamps. "There's been high demand. Real high demand."

Robbins' first shipment of 1,728 card sets was gone within four days. He has ordered more. - Associated Press 


 by CNB