Non-sports trading card

The earliest popularly collected versions of most trading cards were issued as premiums in packages of cigarettes well over 100 years ago.

These included people from the world of entertainment, exotic animals, and famous places, among various other non-sport subjects.

By the 1950s both sports and non-sport cards had achieved a popularity that allowed them to become the selling point.

While non-sports cards initially showcased such real world subjects as entertainers, animals, and famous places, their success expanded with the introduction of new concepts created specifically for the cards including the popular Wacky Packages product label parody sticker cards from the Topps company, issued in their original run in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s.

Another early example was the 1993 Simpsons set from SkyBox International that had 400 redemptions for an "Art De Bart Card."

[citation needed] The sketch card insert has been most common in non-sport trading card sets like The Lord of the Rings: Evolution,[1] Star Wars: Clone Wars and Scooby-Doo: Mysteries & Monsters.

Some companies even offer oversize (3×5 inch) sketch cards as case premiums like Fathom by Dynamic Forces.

Topps, Inkworks and others have used holographic or foil stickers, which are signed then affixed to the card.

Some manufacturers, notably Topps, Inkworks and Rittenhouse Archives, have included memorabilia or costume cards, each card containing a small piece of costume or other clothing worn in a TV series or film.

Today most card packs are made out of foil or plastic and are sold in comic book stores and at some big box retailers like Target and Wal-Mart.

Other collectible promotional material include sell sheets, which are sent to retailers to let them know about the breakdown (boxes per case, chase card rarity) of the set to help them estimate how much product to buy.

Hundred of card sets have been released since the late 1890s, most of them inspired on television series/shows, movies or popular fictional characters, among others.