The Wide World of Non-Sports Trading Cards

by Marty Weil

 

There is more to the world of trading cards than sports. A whole universe of non-sports trading cards exist that feature entertainment content beyond baseball and football. Non-sports trading cards cover a diverse range of subjects, including movie stars, comic book characters, and politicians.

 

In recent decades, non-sports cards have overlapped with newer collectible card games such as Pokemon as well as trading cards produced by Topps and others that were originally designed for game play. Generally, however, collectible, non-sports trading cards were produced in a series with trading and collecting as their primary function. Non-sports trading card series normally sell for a year or two—tracking the arc of a subject’s popularity in the culture.

 

Defined as “a small card intended for trading and collecting,” trading cards were first offered as premiums distributed with tobacco products. This type of card is often referred to as a “cigarette card.” Cigarette cards were at their peak around the mid-1920s and continued for about 15 years. Cigarette cards feature pictures of ships, trains, motorcars, animals, etc. They were given away—one card in each packet of cigarettes. Although initially intended to advertise brands of cigarettes, the cards became favorite trading items among children. Because so many children collected cigarette cards, a large quantity of cigarette cards have survived to the present day. Today, cigarette card collecting is recognized as a major hobby on a par with stamp and coin collecting.

 

World War II brought about the demise of the production of cigarette cards. In the 1940s and 50s, manufacturers of other commodities, such as gum, tea, and cereal, produced alternative trading cards. For example, a New Zealand cereal company called Sanitarium has produced more than 100 card series—since the 1940s—that cover a wide range of subjects. Sanitarium cards are plentiful and inexpensive to collect.

 

Movie star trading cards also emerged as cigarette cards disappeared. The major movie studios produced cards feature stars from their stable of actors and actresses. “Collecting old movie star cards is a great hobby for a lot of reasons,” says Troy Kirk, a movie star trading card collector for more than 40 years. “Most of the cards are still available at relatively cheap prices, especially compared to old baseball cards from the same era. Old movie stars are still popular because most of their movies can still be watched today. One of the great things about collecting movie star cards is that it is not a gender-specific hobby.”

 

The value of a trading card depends on a combination of the subject’s popularity, the scarcity of the card, and its condition. In some cases, non-sports trading cards have become collectors’ items of considerable value. To learn more about trading cards and their values, collectors should consult The Encyclopedia of Non-Sport & Entertainment Trading Cards Volume 1: 1985-2006 by Todd Jordan. There are also two fine card-collecting magazines—The Wrapper and Non-Sport Update—that contain information about trading card collecting.

 

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