Here are the GK175 (on the left) & GK161 (on the right) Tattooze in a side-by-side comparison:
The photos on a blue background were originally from an eBay auction which had ended, but when I contacted the seller to ask about the serial number, Martin Townsend kindly sent me a close-up photo of the transfer sheet.
The auctions are from the sale of the estate of his father, John Townsend, who before his death amassed an amazing collection of ephemera — notably sweet wrappers — which have been featured in a book by Jonny Trunk, "Wrapper's Delight", available from the Guardian bookshop (FUEL Publishing).
For more of 'this kind of thing', search for oldtom85 on eBay.
GK161 — Letraset Tattooze [1973]
Let's start with a close-up of front & back:
You can see that some of these transfers are new, but others are the Dandy Tattooze designs re-used; or rather, used at more-or-less the same time.
At a guess, they were designed for Dandy, but perhaps Letraset considered that this deal covered the Scandinavian market only, giving them a clear shot to try their own brand in the UK.
I've managed to get hold of some more of these now — so in the image below, the bottom row shows the strips with their backing papers in place, & the top row gives you the same transfers but without the backing tissue — for a clearer view.
(The bottom middle sheet is reversed as well, for even less clarity!)
GK175 — Letraset Tattooze Multi-Coloured Skin Transfers [1974]
We start by showing you the most important part of the product: the protective backing tissue.
Here are eight of the sheets (with the tissue removed for clarity). You will observe a certain amount of repetition & variation. I don't think you would need to get all "30 New Exciting Packets" to adequately cover the main points…
This artwork is re-used for the Letraset Rub Down Horrors, five years later.
One last thing…
The Tattooze pictured below were being sold by Paul Hart back in 2011. He described them as "Letraset Lick And Stick Tattooze, 1973", & says there were fifteen different strips. The instructions are almost the same as GK175, but the transfers look suspiciously similar in style to GK161. I'm inclined to wield Occam's Razor here & claim these are GK161, but in a different (cellophane) packet. Perhaps the paper packets were the International edition of these!
If you come across any, please let us know, as it would be good to find them a place in Letraset history.
You may also be interested in our page "How to apply Temporary Tattoos" for further reading…
• Next Page — Letraset Super Heroes Tattooze [1977] →
Other pages in this article about Packets & Tattooze:
- ← Dandy Bubble Gum with Action Transfers
- ← PR190 Dandy Tattooze Transfer Bubble Gum [1974]
- Letraset Tattooze [1973 & 1974] — (this page; see above ↑)
- Letraset Super Heroes Tattooze [1977] →
- Letraset Rub Down Horrors & Space Monsters [1979-80] →
- Thomas Salter: Action Man Rub-Down Transfers [1981] →
- Thomas Salter: 1000 BC The Savage Age Rub Down Action Transfers [1982] →
- Thomas Salter: Space Attack Rub Down Action Transfers [1982] & Terrific Tattooze →
- Semic Press Newspaper Comics Album [1971] →
- EXTRA! — More packets for you: Americana Rubbelbilder →
- Not Letraset, but related: Trans-Action D-Day Landings Wargame →
See also: Combat Bubble Gum Instant Picture Sheets ↑
Plus: Topps 1969 Baseball Magic Rub-Offs ↑
And: Topps Speed Wheels ↑
And: A&BC Footballer Bubble Gum with Action Transfers ↑