***UPDATED 17 January 2026 – Thanks to Shaqui and Tony’s Trading***
I can’t remember how in the 1960s I first encountered the Gold Token comics. But having tokens which could be collected and gifts acquired was not something DC, Marvel, D C Thomson or IPC did – admittedly the latter pair would attach gifts to key issues – Number 1s, amalgamated comics “Great News for all readers” etc.
The company who produced these gems was Yong World Productions Limited, a subsidiary of Thomson Organisation Ltd, whose addresses were 115, Bayham Street and Thomson House, 200 Gray’s Inn Road, London W.C.1. Their UK Distribution was by Vernon Holding and Partners Ltd. There were quite a few people involved in running the company over the years when the company began in May 1963 and was dissolved in March 2016.
The line that caught my childhood imagination was “”Send Name and address and 3d stamp for free gift to: GOLD TOKEN BOOKS 115 Bayham Street, London NW1” and “Win a super holiday in Disneyland Closing date: Monday 20 April 1964” – so exciting in a comic. This also gave me the first date I found for the comic range.
Then they also stated:
“All Gold Token books (and there are many to choose from) contain valuable tokens which are worth exciting free gifts to you. You will find your token inside the book. SAVE your Gold Tokens—They are fun to collect, and when you have enough you can send for any of the following:
- A quality painting book 12 tokens (and the opportunity to enter exciting painting competitions every month)
- A detective magnifying glass…12 tokens
- A wonder cut-out and games book….16 tokens
- An artist’s all-colour paint box….24 tokens
- A luxury folding bookcase for all your Gold Token books….40 tokens
All you have to do. Just cut out your Gold Token from each book. When you have collected the right number, send them with your name and address together with a stamp (3d.) to help with the postage of the gift to:—GOLD TOKEN BOOKS YOUNG WORLD PRODUCTIONS LTD. 115-123 BAYHAM STREET. LONDON N.W.I
The gifts changed – I suspect – according the date of the comic as the one I sent off for is listed below! You might have guessed by now that these comics appear to be reprints from Gold Key (Western Publishing) in America, who had many TV series adaptations plus Disney properties.
Interestingly Gold Token presented Walt Disney commenting on titles as if he were the Editor. Alongside a photo portrait of Walt himself “he” writes in #5:
One day — as long ago as 1932 — a man who was working in my film studios in Hollywood recited ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’ to me. He was supposed to be giving an impersonation of a little girl, but when I heard him I thought he sounded just like a duck talking! ‘I might use that voice in a film one day,’ I told him. And, sure enough, I did. In fact, out of that voice grew the most famous Duck in the world — Donald.
So I am very happy to introduce the latest adventure of my fine feathered friend, Donald, in this the first Super-Mag. In fact, both Donald and I are very proud to welcome you and your friends as Super-Mag readers. We know you will enjoy all the many titles which will be coming your way soon. For, with the help of my artists, Super-Mags will take you into the wonderful world of the cinema screen, bringing you complete stories of many of our real-life and cartoon films
The Bookseller magazine shows that the launch date of these comics was 7 March 1964 and I believe this will have been met because:
Walt Disney Super-mags with GOLD TOKENS will be launched on 7 March 1964, backed by massive advertising on all TV stations, in Radio Times, TV Times and all TV publications. Free Gift Gold Tokens are contained in every publication. Thousands of children are saving them, and they write straight to the publishers for gifts ..no trouble to you! Great extensions to the gift range are planned for 1964.
SUPERMAGS (1/-) + 2 Tokens – (First published 7 March 1964 – Bookseller 11 Jan 1964)
| NUMBER + TITLE | COMMENTS |
| SM1 The Sword in the Stone | [Western: Gold Key: Walt Disney’s the Sword in the Stone, 1964] |
| SM2 Pollyana | [Dell: Four Color #1129 Walt Disney’s Pollyanna, 1960] |
| SM3 20,000 Leagues under the sea | [Western: Walt Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 1963] |
| SM4 The Flight of the White Stallions | [Western: Gold Key: Walt Disney’s the Miracle of the White Stallions, 1963] |
| SM5 Donald Duck – Test Hopper | [Western: Gold Key: Walt Disney’s Donald Duck – Test Hopper, 1963] |
| SM6 Uncle Scrooge | |
| SM7 Big Red | [Western: Gold Key: Walt Disney’s Big Red, 1962] |
| SM8 Parent Trap | [Dell: Four Color #1210 Walt Disney’s The Parent Trap, 1961] |
| SM9 Treasure Island | [Dell: Four Color #624 – Walt Disney’s Treasure Island, 1955] |
| SM10 Mickey Mouse and the Giant Air Serpent | [Western: Gold Key: Mickey Mouse – The Monstrous Air Serpent, 1963] |
| SM11Terrible Ten | (June 1964) Art by Daphne Rowles |
| SM12 Space Patrol – [The Water Bomb?] | (June 1964) [Story title mentioned in advert inside #SM18] |
| SM13 Summer Magic | (July 1964) [Western: Gold Key: Walt Disney’s Summer Magic, 1963] |
| SM14 Lady and the Tramp | (July 1964) [Dell Four Color #629 – Walt Disney’s Lady and the Tramp with Jock, 1955 OR Dell: Four Color #634 – Walt Disney’s Lady and the Tramp Album, 1955] |
| SM15 Champion the Wonder Horse | (August 1964) – with 4 tokens found [Likely to be one of “Gene Autry’s Champion” series by Dell] |
| SM16 Black Mask – Secret Revenge | (August 1964) |
| SM17 A Tiger walks | (September 1964) [Western: Gold Key: Walt Disney’s A Tiger Walks, 1964] |
| SM18 The Absent-Minded Professor | (September 1964) [Dell: Four Color #1199 – Walt Disney’s The Absent Minded Professor, 1961] |
| SM19 Sindy Takes Over | (October 1964) Art by Michael Strand? |
| SM20 Dirk of the Legion | (October 1964) |
| SM21 Kidnapped | [Dell: Four Color #1101 – Walt Disney Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped, 1960] |
| SM22 Dr. Syn | [Western: Gold Key: Walt Disney’s The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, 1964] |
| SM23 Terrible Ten – Bush Rescue | (December 1964) Art by Daphne Rowles |
| SM24 Space Patrol- The secret formula | (December 1964) Art by R. Paul Hoye |
| SM25 Mary Poppins | (January 1965) [Western: Gold Key: Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins, 1965] |
| SM26 The Moonspinners | (January 1965) [Western: Gold Key: Walt Disney’s the Moon-Spinners, 1964] |
I’ve compiled this list myself and included any additional information I found which might help spot the publication dates – mostly 1964 and where the original comics appeared. I have never seen evidence of any issues beyond #26 except in #23 it mentions The Incredible Journey to be published in January 1965 – (but I’ve never seen one), along with the published Mary Poppins and The Moonspinners. Some were reprinted in 64 page comic books – see below. I’ve added dates of which I’m certain in the notes together with my guess as to where the stories originally appeared. I’m grateful to Tony of TonysTrading for his helping me clarify some of my thinking – and subsequently pointing out that “SM#1 states inside the comic it is #1 (and that White Stallions was #4, Pollyanna was #2). Many thanks again Tony.
SINDY is one the outliers in the series as she was a British doll – a version of the popular American doll Barbie. She had 6 novels based on her adventures plus Gold Token produced other books – that’s for a later date.
TERRIBLE TEN: The Adventures of the Terrible Ten was produced by Pacific Films in Melbourne and first broadcast in 1959-1960. I couldn’t track down the comics’ first appearances. However Daphne Rowles was a comic artist and children’s book illustrator mostly known for her comic work in Swift – where she drew “Nicky Nobody” and the “Ladybird” adverts on the rear cover of Swift.
SPACE PATROL: Both appear to be by the same artist – he signs himself R. Paul Hoye in #24. He drew some Enid Blyton “Mary Mouse” books by Brockhampton Press and also for them some Henry the Helicopter – where I see he is credited as R. Paul-Höye. He also drew “Bom” the little toy drummer’s adventures for Blyton as well as other books for Blyton. It appears that he also drew an icon of my childhood: 1966 World Cup lion mascot (World Cup Willie)!
64 PAGES DOUBLE FEATURE COMIC BOOK (2/6d + 4 Gift Tokens)
The ones I discovered have 2 comics in each and were the following titles:
- Champion+Black Mask
- Mary Poppins+Moonspinners
- Summer Magic+Lady and the Tramp
- Terrible Ten: Bush Rescue+Space Patrol: Secret Formula
- Sindy takes over + Dirk of the Legion
Interestingly I have discovered an odd one, which reprints two of the first SuperMags – 20,000 Leagues under the sea and The Flight of the White Stallions. It has YWP branding but no Gold Token branding – perhaps a later reprint? It’s likely that these all appeared from mid-1965 onwards as The Moonspinners was first published in January 1965 but see below.
Thanks to Shaqui Le Vesconte (for the above images) we now know “Double-Feature Comic Books” were published April, 1965 for 2/6d each and as the image says, that Shaqui kindly supplied, these were: “The first six titles available now”:
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea + The Flight of the White Stallions
- Treasure Island + Big Red
- The Terrible Ten + Champion the Wonder Horse
- Mickey Mouse and the Giant Air Serpent + Donald Duck — Test Hopper
- Pollyanna + The Parent Trap
- The Sword in the Stone + Lady and the Tramp
and there were “MORE TO COME!” but I haven’t found evidence of them. Interestingly they are also all different from the Gold Token equivalents!
Shaqui states: “They are also listed in June 1965, so were these the reprints with the YWP Book branding, not the ‘Gold Token’ versions?”
I know as an ex-bookseller and librarian that the “Organ of the Book Trade” – the Bookseller could only work with what it was given and publication dates did move due to all sorts of circumstances. Therefore, even looking at both entries in the Bookseller, these could be the same – just moved on in date. BUT I do like Shaqui’s thinking here. Until I get any other evidence…..you decide!
GOLD TOKEN ACTION SERIES (1/3 + 2 Gift tokens)
Gold Token didn’t just produce ‘normal’ American sized comics but also digest comic books, which came from comic strips – supplied by King Features in America and others.
Here are the gifts listed:
- 12 tokens – A detective magnifying glass
- 20 tokens – Two FROG Chuck Gliders Balsa construction. Stunt and fly like a real plane.
- 30 tokens – Wonderful book of “Record Breakers” 32 big pages of full colour, showing records ans pictures of land, air and water record breakers.
- 40 tokens – A luxury folding book-case for all your GOLDEN TOKEN books.
- AS#1 Secret Agent X9: Jungle Mission + Trail of Gold (July 1964)
- AS#2 Big Ben Bolt: [Unknown] (July 1964)
- AS#3 Flash Gordon: Men Against a Robot + The Lone Survivor (July 1964)
- AS#4 Tim Tyler: Peril of the Painted Path (July 1964)
- AS#5 Brick Bradford: Adventure in Andromeda + Operation Chaos (August 1964)
- AS#6 Mandrake [The Magician]: Master of Magic (August 1964)
- AS#7 Ripcord [No story title] (August 1964)
- AS#8 Secret Agent X9: Justice in the Underworld +Highland Caper (August 1964)
- [The price drops to 1/- after this]
- AS#9 Ripcord Adventure: In the eye of the typhoon (September 1964)
- AS#10: Flash Gordon: The Time Pendulum + The Dark Side of the Moon + The Stars in the Sky (September 1964)
- AS#11 Ripcord Adventure: Jungle Madness (October 1964)
- AS#12 Brick Bradford: Journey to Atlantis (October 1964)
Action Series began in July 1964 and two titles were introduced each month according to blurb within. Interestingly the price dropped after issue 8. Although the Grand Comics Database indexes the Action Series there are no reprint credits. Tim Tyler = Tim Tyler’s Luck. Brick Bradford’s “Adventure in Andromeda” was published first 20 May 1963 – 19 October 1963 and “Operation Chaos” from 21 October 1963 – 28 December 1963. The Flash Gordon certainly looks to me to be drawn by Dan Barry and some of the Agent X9 by Ross Andru, although the credits for this period are Bob Lubbers (story and art) from 1960-1967. This doesn’t rule out assistance by Andru but I’m happy to be corrected. Issue #7 Ripcord has no internal title, but the narrative tells of the “Red Rocks Gorge Adventure”. Could the last Brick Bradford have been “Journey to Procyon” (26 October 1964 – 23 January 1965)?
The leaflet added into the July 1964 comics show the new series starts with four titles.
GOLD TOKEN GIANT SUPER MAG (2/6d + 5 Gift tokens)
These looked well worth collecting at the time but half a crown (2/6d) was a lot of money for a comic. That was the price I paid for a Famous Monsters of Filmland in August 1965 in the UK! The first issue was announced to be published on 19 June 1964 (I found it in Super-Mag #7 “Big Red” plus #8 “The Parent Trap” and #10 “Mickey Mouse and the Giant Air-Serpent”) and interestingly says “Walt Disney presents the first BUMPER Super-Mag” – so no suggested title for the first issue and a name change for the series!
GOLD TOKEN GIANT SUPER MAG Listing
- GSM/1: Donald Duck and His Friends (June 1964)
- GSM/2: Donald Duck and Other Stories (Sep 1964)
- GSM/3: Donald Duck’s Album (Nov 1964)
- GSM/4: Li’l Bad Wolf and Other Stories(? 1965)
I hope to share some information on books – not comics in another article soon.
~Norman
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