* Early series were a wrapper that folded in three, with one tattoo on the reverse of the wrapper. They came with a piece of pink gum wrapped in a wax parcel. Most of these tattoos have a small tear where the wrapper was sealed with glue.

* The next series to come along were the classic rectangle size, with "3-coloured" designs, where you could see the colours of the design on the white background, before the tattoo was used.

*Then came the style that was used for the majority of the series during the GOLDEN-ERA of Dandy Gum Tattoos. A white back ground with a black-looking design that revealed it's colours once it was transfered on to the skin.

*Later series and a couple in between were full-coloured skin transfers, which I have included in this list.

*Many series have a Sailor theme. Tattoos that might be worn by a Sailor or a Pirate. These series have many tattoo designs repeated across the various series. Just the number and letter (N, T, S, B, C etc.) have been changed. Some designs are refined from earlier wrapper style and 3-coloured tattoos. There are normally a few new designs in each series, which make collecting worthwhile.

*In most series there are definately "key" tattoos, that are harder to find than others. For a series of 100 there seems to be about 80 that turn up as easily as each other. Then about 15 that appear about 1 for every 5 of the majority. Then about 5 or less that seem to turn about 1 for every 30 of the majority.


*(Sailor/Pirate theme) series B 100 1980's - is exclusively repeats, they are taken from Navy (N) and Sailor (T) (Most in the actual order they appear in from the N and T series) Series B is a mystery to me. I have a full set of 100 and about 500 duplicates that have come my way, from various sources, but no one has been able to tell me the name of the series and no one says they have seen a wrapper. One suggestion is that it was a promotional series that was handed out and did not come with gum or in a wrapper. None of mine have any evidence of gum, unlike example from all other series."






*Navy Tattoos (Denmark issue, with different designs for number's 14,82,83,86,89,91,92,94,96,97,98) N 100 1970's - Has 11 Skull and Cross-bones themed tattoo designs substituted for the designs released outside of Denmark. This makes those numbers particularly hard to find. Many seem to be key numbers anyway, but having 90 designs that are all the same in both series and 11 that vary between two designs, makes them harder to find. I would guess that the designs were substituted, because skull and crossbones is a much darker theme for children to collect.








*"Dandy Tattoo" often called "Tattoo Ole" A 100 mid 1980's - This is a whole new set of 100 designs with a variety of themes. The artwork is more detailed than previous series. "Tattoo Ole" could be the name of the design studio for the tattoos, although I read once that "Tattoo Ole" means they were illustrated by (Mr.) Ole...who possibly designed many of the earlier tattoos. So this series could have been a special commission and an attempt at bringing back the popularity of the tattoos from the GOLDEN- ERA. This series suffered badly in my opinion from having too many "key" designs. I bought about 2 boxes in the mid 80's and have since picked up a few hundred more tattoos from ebay, yet I have not been able to put together a full set. I did buy one full set from a collector in Denmark, so he somehow put one together. I know of at least 3 keen collectors, who have been collecting longer and have better resources than me, who as far as I know are all still sitting on about 80 out of 100.




*"Western Tattoos". W 100 early 1990's - This was the last attempt I know of by Dandy to make their classic style of tattoo. I have only got 3 examples and a wrapper. They must be the rarest of tattoos. Yet from what I can tell, it was 100 new designs in a Western/Cowboy theme. They appear to be very simple illustrations. I really hope to get a full set of these one day.