Trading card
[3] A couple of years later, lithograph pictures on the cards with an encyclopedic variety of topics from nature to war to sports—subjects that appealed to men who smoked—began to surface as well.
Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., now known as "The Topps Company, Inc.", started inserting trading cards into bubble gum packs in 1950 with such topics as TV and film cowboy Hopalong Cassidy, Frank Buck from "Bring 'Em Back Alive" on big game hunts in Africa,[citation needed] and All-American Football Cards.
[24] A number of tech start-ups have attempted to establish themselves in this space, notably Stampii (Spain, 2009),[25][26] Fantom (Ireland, 2011), Deckdaq (Israel, 2011), and 2Stic (Austria, 2013).
Connect2Media together with Winning Moves, created an iPhone Application to host a series of trading card collections, including Dinosaurs, James Bond - 007, Celebs, Gum Ball 3000, European Football Stars and NBA.
[31] Generally, CCGs fetch higher initial prices than trading cards because of the dual nature of being both a game piece and a collectible.
Centering, corners, edges and surface are taken into consideration for imperfections, such as color spots and blurred images, and wear, such as creases, scratches, and tears, when determining a trading card's value.
Major card grading companies which provide these ratings on a scale of 1-10 include PSA, Beckett, and SGC.
[30][36] It is often said that for someone playing a CCG, the best way to obtain the cards they desire is not via booster packs, but by buying the individual singles they need for their deck.
[43] More recently, on August 28, 2022, a Mickey Mantle baseball card (Topps; #311; SGC MT 9.5) was sold for $12.600 million.
Since companies typically must pay players for the right to use their images, the vast majority of sports cards feature professional athletes.
Many older sports cards (pre-1980) command a high price today; this is because they are hard to find, especially in good quality condition.
Rookie cards of Hall of Fame sports stars can command thousands of dollars if they have been relatively well-preserved.
[citation needed] The first association football (or "soccer") cards were produced in 1898 by the Marcus & Company Tobacco in Manchester, England.
Modern association football trading cards were sold with bubble gum in the United Kingdom from 1958 to 1975 by A&BC, and later by Topps, UK from 1975 to 1981.
[50] Launched by Topps in the 2007–08 season, Match Attax, the official Premier League trading card game, is the best selling boys collectable in the UK – with around 1.5m collectors in the UK – and with global sales it is also the biggest selling sports trading card game in the world.
[54][55] The Guardian states, “the tradition of swapping duplicate [World Cup] stickers was a playground fixture during the 1970s and 1980s.”[54] Panini begins assembling World Cup squads for their sticker album a few months before they are officially announced by each nation, which means surprise call ups often don’t feature in their album.
A notable example of this was 17-year-old Brazilian striker Ronaldo who was called up for the Brazil squad for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
The fourth edition of Panini FIFA 365 Adrenalyn XL was released for 2019, featuring top clubs, teams and players.
[citation needed] Australian rules football cards are almost exclusively found in Australia as no top-level leagues are present outside the country.
Wills in 1905,[60] and Sniders & Abrahams (featuring scenes of matches in 1908 and then releasing other sets with portraits of football players in the 1910s, all in full color).
Select Australia is currently the longest continuously operating and largest producer of Australian rules football cards.
Cards are most often found in the United States; however, they are also common in countries such as Canada, Cuba, and Japan, where baseball is a popular sport and there are professional leagues.
Panini released collections of some of the most famous bicycle races in Europe, such as the Tour de France[80] and the Giro d'Italia.
Hockey cards next appeared during 1951–52, issued by Shirriff Desserts, York Peanut Butter and Post Cereal.
Toronto's Parkhurst Products Company began printing cards in 1951, followed by Brooklyn's Topps Chewing Gum in 1954–1955.
In September 2020, it was announced[83] that Topps had signed an exclusive worldwide agreement to become the Official Sticker and Trading Card Licensee of Formula 1.
Upper Deck has also produced surfing trading cards as a part of its annual Goodwins champion release and World of Sport series.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, the major players in the international tennis trading card market have been NetPro, Leaf and Ace Authentic.
Upper Deck has also produced tennis trading cards as part of its Goodwin's Champions annual series.
Non-sports trading cards feature subject material relating to anything other than sports, such as comics, movies, music and television.
