Editing Trading card (section)

==History==

=== Origins ===
{{Main|Trade card|Cigarette card}}

[[Trade card]]s are the ancestors of cigarette and food (bubble gum) cards. Some of the earliest [[Prize (marketing)|prizes]] found in retail products were [[cigarette cards]]; trade cards were designed to advertise products that were inserted into paper packs of cigarettes as stiffeners to protect the contents.<ref name=whatis>[https://www.card-world.co.uk/collect/ What is what we collect?] by Sam Whiting, 26 Oct 2014</ref> [[Allen and Ginter]] in the U.S. in 1886, and British company [[W.D. & H.O. Wills]] in 1888, were the first tobacco companies to print advertisements.<ref name="axeman">[http://www.tradingcardcentral.com/history.php Trading Card Central]. 2007. 29 Jan. 2008</ref> 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.<ref name="stevetalbot.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.stevetalbot.com/cards/history.php|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523114000/http://www.stevetalbot.com/cards/history.php|url-status=dead|title=The History of Cartophily|archivedate=May 23, 2013}}</ref> By 1900, there were thousands of tobacco card sets manufactured by 300 different companies. Children would stand outside of stores to ask customers who bought cigarettes for the promotional cards.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Cigarette-Cards-Cartophily/|title=Cigarette Cards and Cartophily|access-date=14 February 2018}}</ref> Following the success of cigarette cards, trade cards were produced by manufacturers of other products and included in the product or handed to the customer by the store clerk at the time of purchase.<ref name="stevetalbot.com"/> [[World War II]] put an end to cigarette card production due to limited paper resources, and after the war cigarette cards never really made a comeback. After that collectors of prizes from retail products took to collecting [[Tea in the United Kingdom#Tea cards|tea cards]] in the UK and bubble gum cards in the US.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://reviews.ebay.com/Cigarette-Card-Guide-Collectibles-History-and-Grading_W0QQugidZ10000000000792783|title=Cigarette Card Guide (Collectibles) History and Grading|access-date=14 February 2018}}</ref>

=== Early baseball cards ===
{{Main|Baseball card}}
[[File:Adrian "Cap" Anson, Baseball Player, from World's Champions, Series 1 (N28) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes MET DP838205.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Cap Anson|Adrian C. Anson]] depicted on an [[Allen & Ginter]] [[cigarette card]], c. 1887]]
The first [[baseball card]]s were trade cards printed in the late 1860s by a sporting goods company, around the time baseball became a professional sport.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cycleback.com/1800s/trade.htm|title=Early Trade Cards|website=www.cycleback.com}}</ref> Most of the baseball cards around the beginning of the 20th century came in candy and tobacco products. It was during this era that the most valuable baseball card ever printed, the [[T206 Honus Wagner|T206 tobacco card featuring Honus Wagner]], was produced.<ref name=honuswag>{{cite web|title=The History of the T206 Honus Wagner Baseball Card|url=http://www.cardboardconnection.com/card-t206-honus-wagner|work=CardboardConnection.com|date=2 March 2012|publisher=The Cardboard Connection|access-date=16 May 2012}}</ref> The T206 set, distributed by the [[American Tobacco Company]] in 1909, is considered by collectors to be the most popular set of all time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/treasure/autont005.shtml|title=Tobacco Baseball Cards|website=www.baseball-almanac.com|access-date=14 February 2018}}</ref> In 1933, the [[Goudey|Goudey Gum Company]] of Boston issued baseball cards with players biographies on the backs and was the first to put baseball cards in bubble gum.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.psacard.com/errors/notfound|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715125202/http://www.psacard.com/articles/article_view.chtml?artid=3886&type=1|url-status=dead|title=The History of Goudey Gum Company|archivedate=July 15, 2011|website=[[Professional Sports Authenticator]] (PSA)}}</ref> The 1933 Goudey set remains one of the most popular and affordable vintage sets to this day.<ref>{{cite web|title=1933 Goudey Baseball Cards|url=http://www.cardboardconnection.com/baseball-cards/1933-goudey-baseball-cards|work=CardboardConnection.com|publisher=The Cardboard Connection|access-date=16 May 2012}}</ref> [[Bowman Gum]] of Philadelphia issued its first baseball cards in 1948.

=== Modern trading cards ===
[[Topps|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 (animal collector)|Frank Buck]] from "[[Bring 'Em Back Alive (book)|Bring 'Em Back Alive]]" on big game hunts in Africa,{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} and All-[[American Football Card]]s. Topps produced its first baseball trading card set in 1951, with the resulting design resembling that of playing cards.<ref>{{cite web|title=1951 Topps Baseball Cards|url=http://www.cardboardconnection.com/1951-topps-blue-backs-baseball-cards-2|work=CardboardConnection.com|publisher=The Cardboard Connection|access-date=16 May 2012}}</ref> Topps owner and founder [[Sy Berger]] created the first true modern baseball card set, complete with playing record and statistics, the following year in the form of 1952 Topps Baseball.<ref>{{cite web|title=1952 Topps Baseball Cards|url=http://www.cardboardconnection.com/1952-topps-baseball-cards-2|work=CardboardConnection.com|publisher=The Cardboard Connection|access-date=16 May 2012}}</ref> This is one of the most popular sets of all time; its most valued piece was 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311, which is sometimes erroneously referred to as Mantle's rookie card, though he had in fact appeared in the 1951 Bowman Baseball set.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mickey Mantle's Rookie Card Guide|url=http://www.cardboardconnection.com/mickey-mantle-baseball-cards-rookie-cards-checklist-and-buying-guide|work=CardboardConnection.com|publisher=The Cardboard Connection|access-date=16 May 2012}}</ref> On August 28, 2022, a [[Mickey Mantle]] baseball card ([[Topps]]; #311; SGC MT 9.5) was sold for $12.600 million.<ref name="NYT-20220828">{{cite news |last=Albeck-Ripka |first=Livia |title=Baseball Card Sold for $12.6 Million, Breaking Record - The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card is the most valuable piece of sports memorabilia ever to be sold at auction. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/28/us/mickey-mantle-card-auction-baseball.html |date=August 28, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]] |accessdate=August 29, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="MLB-20220831">{{cite news |last=Monagan |first=Matt |title=The man who sold the most valuable sports card of all time - Anthony Giordano got a record $12.6 million for a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/who-sold-the-1952-mickey-mantle-baseball-card |date=August 31, 2022 |work=[[MLB]] |accessdate=August 31, 2022 }}</ref>

Topps purchased their chief competitor, Bowman Gum, in 1956.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.topps.com/abouttopps/history.html |title=Topps History |access-date=2019-01-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100401074146/http://www.topps.com/abouttopps/history.html |archive-date=2010-04-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Topps was the leader in the trading card industry from 1956 to 1980, not only in sports cards but in entertainment cards as well. Many of the top selling [[Non-sports trading card|non-sports cards]] were produced by Topps, including [[Wacky Packages]] (1967, 1973–1977), ''[[Star Wars canon|Star Wars]]'' (beginning in 1977)<ref>''Star Wars Super Collector's Wish Book Identification and Values'', Geoffrey T. Carlton, Collector Books, Paducah, KY, {{ISBN|1-57432-289-3}}</ref> and [[Garbage Pail Kids]] (beginning in 1985).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://members.tripod.com/garbage_pail_kids/|title=Barren AARON's GPK World|website=members.tripod.com|access-date=14 February 2018}}</ref> In 1991, Topps ceased packaging gum with their baseball cards, which many collectors preferred because their cards could no longer be damaged by gum stains.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foodandwine.com/news/how-gum-and-baseball-cards-became-intertwined|title=How Gum and Baseball Cards Became Intertwined|website=www.foodandwine.com|access-date=10 January 2021}}</ref> The following year, in 1992, Topps ceased using heavily waxed paper to wrap their packs of cards and began using cellophane plastic exclusively, thus eliminating the possibility of wax stains on the top and bottom cards in the packs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cardboardconnection.com/visual-history-topps-baseball-wrappers-2011|title=Visual Guide to Topps Baseball Wrappers - 1951-2011|website=www.cardboardconnection.com|date=27 January 2012|access-date=10 January 2021}}</ref>

=== Digital trading cards ===
In an attempt to stay current with technology and digital trends, existing and new trading card companies started to create digital trading cards that lived exclusively online or as a digital counterpart of a physical card.

In 1995 Michael A. Pace produced "computer based" trading cards, utilizing a CD ROM computer system and floppy discs.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pace |first1=Michael |title=Computer-based trading card system and method |url=https://michaelpace.com/press-archive-of-michael-pace-ema-multimedia/ |website=Michael Pace Digital |date=11 September 2015 |access-date=22 August 2021}}</ref>

In 2000, [[Topps]] launched a brand of sports cards, called [[etopps]]. These cards were sold exclusively online through individual IPO's (initial player offering) in which the card is offered for usually a week at the IPO price. That same year, [[Tokenzone]] launched a digital collectibles platform that was used by media companies to distribute content in the form of digital trading cards. The quantity sold depended on how many people offered to buy but was limited to a certain maximum. After a sale, the cards were held in a climate-controlled warehouse unless the buyer requests delivery, and the cards could be traded online without changing hands except in the virtual sense. In January 2012, Topps announced that they would be discontinuing their eTopps product line.<ref>{{cite web|title=eTopps Brand Retired|url=http://etopps.com/ipomarketplace/jan2012faq.asp|work=etopps.com|publisher=Topps|access-date=16 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207151720/http://www.etopps.com/ipomarketplace/jan2012faq.asp|archive-date=2012-02-07|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Digital collectible card game]]s were estimated to be a $1.3B market in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|title=Digital Card Games Report|url=http://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/digital-card-games/|publisher=Superdata|date=2014}}</ref> A number of tech start-ups have attempted to establish themselves in this space, notably Stampii (Spain, 2009),<ref name=digi1>[https://elpais.com/diario/2010/04/08/ciberpais/1270693473_850215.html La española Stampii lanza colecciones de cromos digitales] by Javier Martín on ''El País'', 8 Apr 2010</ref><ref name=digi2>[http://sportics.es/stampii-coleccionismo-multimedia-que-aprovecha-al-maximo-las-tic/ Stampii, coleccionismo multimedia que aprovecha al máximo las TIC] by Nacho Azcona on Sportics, 4 Apr 2012</ref> Fantom (Ireland, 2011), Deckdaq (Israel, 2011), and 2Stic (Austria, 2013).

[[Panini Group|Panini]] launched their [[Adrenalyn XL]] platform with an [[National Basketball Association|NBA]] and [[National Football League|NFL]] trading card collection. 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]]. In 2011, mytcg Technologies launched a platform for hosting digital trading card content.

On July 1, 2011, Wildcat Intellectual Property Holdings filed a lawsuit against 12 defendants, including Topps, Panini, [[Sony]], [[Electronic Arts]], [[Konami]], [[Pokémon]], [[Zynga]] and [[Nintendo]], for allegedly infringing Wildcat's "Electronic Trading Card" patent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.priorsmart.com/wildcat-intellectual-property-holdings-v-4kids-entertainment-l4zv/#Complaintl|title=Wildcat Intellectual Property Holdings Lawsuit|access-date=14 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216160019/http://news.priorsmart.com/wildcat-intellectual-property-holdings-v-4kids-entertainment-l4zv/#Complaintl|archive-date=2017-02-16|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2012, Topps also launched their first phone application: Topps Bunt was an app that allowed users to connect with other fans in a fantasy league type game environment wherein they could collect players, earn points from playing, and trade and compete with other fans. Three years later, the same company launched a digital experiment in Europe (geotargeted to exclude the USA) with its [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] Hero Attax, using digital as an overlay to its physical product.<ref>{{cite web|title=Marvel Avengers Hero Attax Series 4|url=http://swapstick.com/swaps.nsf/Albums+By+Title/Marvel%20Avengers%20Hero%20Attax%20Series%204%202015|publisher=Swapstick|date=2014}}</ref>