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1978 Donruss KISS Trading Cards

1978 Donruss KISS Trading Cards

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KISS will go down in history as one of the best bands ever when it comes to marketing and putting on a show. Part of their early merchandising blitz included trading cards. 1978 Donruss KISS is split between two series. And while it's simple on the surface, things are a little more complicated for completists.

1978 Donruss KISS trading cards has a 132-card checklist, 66 for each series. Donruss was making a big push with music cards at the time, releasing sets for Elvis Presley and the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band around the same time. The design of the KISS set is very similar to the Elvis set. Card fronts have a large photo surrounded by a thin, somewhat ornate border. The card number is in the bottom corner of the card. Running along the bottom is a line of copyright info. Cards have no captions.

1978 Donruss KISS Trading Cards 1

Most card backs double as puzzle pieces, although a handful have short bios.

1978 Donruss KISS gets a little more complicated with 19 variations that were added to the mix later down the road. When Peter Criss left the band, his cards were replaced with ones featuring new drummer Eric Carr. It also meant some cards have the same front but different backs to created an updated puzzle. These variations are not available in regularly marked packs though. They came in generic entertainment packs that came in Donruss Fun Bags. These repackaged bags come with a mix of sports and entertainment cards. Sports packs are visible, but non-sport cards are not. This makes tracking down the appropriate Fun Bags tough. Understandably, 1978 Donruss KISS variations command a premium.

1978 Donruss KISS Trading Cards 2

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Set Checklist

1978 Donruss KISS Checklist

Base Set Checklist

132 cards. Each series has 66 cards. Several Series 1 cards have variations. These are noted below.

Series 1

1 Paul
2 Peter
3 Peter
4 Gene
5 Ace
6 Paul
7 Group
8 Gene
9 Group
10 Paul
11 Gene
12 Gene
13 Peter
14 Paul
15 Group
16 Paul
17 Peter
18 Ace
19 Ace
20 Ace
21 Ace
22 Ace
23 Gene
24 Paul, Ace
25 Peter
26 Gene
27 Gene
28 Paul
29 Gene, Paul, Ace
30 Paul
31 Paul
32 Gene
33 Peter
34 Paul
35 Paul
36 Peter
37 Ace, Paul
38 Gene, Paul
39 Peter
40 Gene
41 Gene, Paul
42 Gene
43 Gene
44 Group
45 Paul
46 Gene, Ace, Paul
47 Gene
48 Gene
49 Paul
50 Gene
51 Group
52 Paul
53 Gene
54 Paul
55 Ace
56 Peter
57 Peter
58 Gene, Paul, Ace
59 Peter
60 Paul
61 Peter
62 Gene
63 Ace
64 Ace
65 Ace
66 Group

Series 2

67 Gene
68 Gene
69 Paul
70 Gene
71 Gene
72 Gene
73 Paul
74 Paul
75 Peter, Gene, Ace
76 Paul
77 Gene
78 Gene, Ace
79 Gene, Paul, Ace
80 Group
81 Peter
82 Paul
83 Group
84 Gene
85 Peter
86 Gene
87 Gene
88 Paul
89 Ace
90 Paul
91 Peter
92 Gene, Ace
93 Paul
94 Group
95 Group
96 Paul
97 Peter
98 Peter
99 Paul
100 Group
101 Paul, Ace
102 Ace
103 Peter
104 Paul
105 Gene
106 Gene
107 Group
108 Paul, Ace
109 Ace
110 Peter
111 Ace
112 Ace
113 Peter
114 Gene
115 Group
116 Ace
117 Group
118 Paul
119 Gene
120 Ace
121 Gene
122 Peter
123 Peter
124 Peter
125 Paul
126 Paul
127 Ace
128 Paul
129 Paul
130 Peter
131 Gene
132 Gene

1978 Donruss KISS Trading Cards 24

Variations Checklist

19 cards. These cards were made after Eric Carr joined the band. Some feature a new front while others required different backs to switch out the departing Peter Criss for Carr. The Eric Carr variations are only available in blind entertainment packs found in Donruss Fun Bags that featured repackaged sports and entertainment cards.

2
3
7
9
15
17
22
24
25
33
36
39
42
44
47
51
53
56
57
59
61
1978 Donruss KISS Trading Cards 25

1978 Donruss KISS Trading Cards 3Making purchases through affiliate links can earn the site a commission
Ryan is a former member of The Cardboard Connection Writing Staff.   His collecting origins began with winter bike rides to the corner store, tossing a couple of quarters onto the counter and peddling home with a couple packs of O-Pee-Chee hockey in his pocket. Today, he continues to build sets, go after inserts with cool technologies, chase Montreal Expos and finish off his John Jaha master collection.

User Reviews

Mike Zink
Mike Zink

Id have kept that Rock Stars box’s contents-looking at what they’re going for now! Have a couple S2 Boxes of Kiss, as well as several fun bags, where it had maybe 12 Kiss packs and the rest were giant Donruss Stars cards worth crap, I believe. The Series Two are worth pry about double as box prices go-but I’m planning on sending in quite a few of packs individually with my next PSA order in 10 years-when PSA may begin opening up normal card/pack grading again…. Whichever comes first….

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