TRADING CARDS
Trading cards or collectors cards are hard to describe
and the attraction to them is sometimes hard to explain. Many of you will
have collected some form of trading card during your life. Maybe it was
some sports cards that you swapped with your friends or a free gift in
a cereal box. Maybe it was swap cards you collected, or the old cigarrette
cards. The more involved people may have bought some packets of cards trying
to collect the whole set or make a picture.
I collect trading cards for fun, I collect what looks good and appeals to me. My grandfather collected cigarette cards and had a huge collection. Cigarrette cards are named because they were inserted in cigarette packets and often children would collect them from the men who bought the packets. Cards were also inserted in things such as tea. More recently cards coudl be collected from various food packets, bread, breakfast cereal and chips are just a few foods that you may spot cards with.
In the 1960's-70's actual packets of cards started
to be produced. These often had about 5 cards in them of the common card
size of today and also often a piece of chewing gum. The cover for the
cards was usually a wax type paper which could be printed on.
Now most of the cards come in foil packets, these protect the cards more
and allow for more acuarate and nicer designs to be printed on the outside
of the packet. The actual cards have also improved, this unfortunately
is often reflected in the price but not always. The paper the cards are
printed on is called 'stock' and the better quality stock the nicer the
end product. New printing technology has also allowed for a whole variety
of cards to be produced which feature such things as foil stamping on the
cards and moulded cards.
Also recently the 'chase' card has been invented. These are the special
cards that are more rare than your average card, they look better, and
dare I say they are worth more. It used to be that the cards that were
worth more were those of say popular sporting stars, this is still true,
but card companies now randomly insert these more rare cards into their
packets. In my opinion this is also a cause of the price of an average
pack of cards being raised. Often you can find out how hard it is to get
a chase card by looking on the back of the packet. It will sometimes have
the type of chase card listed and the ratio.
eg. Foil stamped hologram 1:180, this means on average you will find one
of these cards in every 180 packets you open.
Like any other collectable often the collector sees a lot more in a trading card than the average person does. You might see someone's bottle cap collection or their paper clip and rubber band collection and think
WHY ON EARTH WOULD SOMEONE WANT TO COLLECT THAT? What is so special about silly bottle caps?
Part of the answer is that each bottle cap, paper
clip or trading card usually has some story or feeling attached to it,
something that distinguishes it from every other thing in the collection.
It is unique and holds a fascinating tale of its discovery. That's a major
reason I have for collecting things, the excitement of finding a new type
of card or completeing a set. I do not think it is worth collecting something
just because you think it might go up in value in the future.
If you'd like some reasons why I collect cards here are a few -
Beginners guide for collecting cards
So maybe you want to start collecting cards, or you have a few and want to know what to do with them. Here's a few tips from a collector who started off with a few football cards and trading at school who now has a pretty big collection!
First thing - get a place and box for your cards
The first thing to do is get all the cards together
that you already have, if you don't have any at the moment thats fine still
do this. Now find a space somewhere that can be dedicated to your cards.
This space can be a permanent area like a drawer, a place on a shelf, under
a bed or just an area that can be moved around. Let me explain that a bit
more. To collect something you really need to have it all collected together,
it's no use to have say all the knives in one room and the forks in the
other you normally have them all in the one place. To start off with try
to find a good box to keep all your cards etc. in, a shoe box or two is
the best in my experience. This is a start for keeping your cards together,
in good condition and in some sort of order.
Once you've got an area set aside for cards have a think about what sort
of cards you might like to start with. YOu may want to try and collect
a set from buying packets, you may be colelcting some cards from food packets,
you may have seen a card you like and want to buy the whole set. There
are many different types of tradign cards, sport and non-sport. If there
is a movie you like there may be a card set about it. Do you like science-fiction?
Animals? try and find out where there is a local card store and ask about
something you're interested in. There are so many sets you may want to
colelct, try and start with just one and go from there.
Keeping your cards in good condition and how to display them
Presuming now that you have some cards, what do
you do with them? Well a major thing to remember is to try and keep your
cards in mint condition, be careful not to bend them of get them dirty,
you may not mind but they do look better in good condition and if you ever
want to swap them most people will not accept damaged cards.
How do I keep them from getting damaged? First of all handle them carefully
when getting them out of whatever packaging they came in and getting them
to your card area. After that there are many things you can get to protect
your cards and display them nicely (so you and others can admire them).
The best place to go is a trading card store and as well as the boxes of
cards you should also see things such as folders and lots of different
plastic covers, if you know of a comic store or toy store they may also
carry a range of trading cards so you can check there too. What you want
to protect and display your cards depends a lot on how many cards you have
and are planning to get in the future and how much you want to spend. To
start off with buy a folder and about 10-20 9-card holder sheets to go
in it. This is the best way to display cards you collect, especcially sets,
and stop their edges getting damaged and fingermarks on them.
The 9-card sheets will look like a normal plastic pocket you might use
to out A4 paper in, but are divided up into 9 sections with an opening
at the top of each section. This is where you put the card, if you haven't
sompleted a set yet it is a good idea to get enough sheets to hold the
set and leave spaces where there are cards you still need.
There are also different ways to arrange the cards in order in the pockets.
The most common way is to arraneg them with 1 in the top left-hand corner
and put card number 2 to its right then 3 next to it in the top right hand
corner then 4 below no. 1 and so on so no.9 is in the bottom right hand
corner. Like this table -
| Card 1 | Card 2 | Card 3 |
| Card 4 | Card 5 | Card 6 |
| Card 7 | Card 8 | Card 9 |
There are also a variety of holders for single
cards, and boxes to hold certain numbers of cards (50, 100, 200, 500 and
so on). If you find your collection growing you may want to buy some. You
can assess you're needs for the cards if you start collecting a few more
sets, so start off with a folder and some sheets to put the cards in, a
box to put all loose cards and doubles and anything else to do with cards
in and there you are. You've started your very own card collection.
In conclusion I'd like to say I hope this guide I whipped up is of some
use (any suggestions appreciated). You don't need to be up to date on every
new release or know anything about the latest prices or collect every set
to have fun with cards. Just collect what you liek the look of and have
fun contacting other people who also collect cards and maybe swapping with
them and discussing your cards. Whatever you do make sure its fun and enjoyable.
Have a look
at my trading card want/trade list
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