Difference Between NFT And Traditional Trading Cards

Card collection, which was once a niche hobby, a market relegated to eBay message boards and annual card-cons, has become part of the mainstream for sports fans, investors, celebrities, and all the cool kids in between.

The trend of collecting cards started in the 18th century with “Cigarette Cards.”

This concept emerged from Victorian-era sentimentality and a fascination with new-fangled color printing.

There were trade cards, then trading card games, and today, these cards have evolved as digital collectibles. However, the culture of trading cards clearly shows the desire among fans to obtain and own the most exclusive and one-of-a-kind collectibles.

History of Traditional Trading Cards

Originally the “trade cards” were introduced as a part of an advertising strategy by a cigarette company. These trade cards have the company’s name, address, and an eye-catching image to stick in the customer’s mind.

In the 1860s, shortly after baseball’s inception as a professional sport, baseball cards were printed, usually being sold in packets of candy or tobacco products.

From the 1870s to the early 1900s, trade cards enjoyed their heyday. The popularization of color lithography led to the increased popularity of trade cards. Several companies adopted this trade card concept. They would insert these cards into product packaging as a prize.

Although the design of these cards was not product-related, it was humorous or beautiful, depending on the perceived tastes of the consumer.

Along with the time, color printing became a widespread trend in the market, which affected the popularity of trade cards.

Then arrived Sports Cards. These were the same as baseball trade cards, but the only difference was that the company had started printing biographies on these baseball cards. People were able to avail these cards from the packets of bubble gum.

In 1950, Topps Chewing Gum Inc. began inserting trading cards into their packaging. These cards depicted TV and movie stars, football players, and big game hunters. A few years later, the company introduced the sports trading cards, including a player biography, records, and other statistics.

By 1980, sports cards became valuable collectible items for people. Slowly, these items started gaining monetary value in the market.

Introduction of Trading Card Games

In the 1990s, a new Trading Card Game was introduced.

In 1993, Wizards of the Coast released the first and most enduring trading card game, Magic: The Gathering. This game involved a combination of luck and skill, with two or more players, battling it out as powerful wizards called “Planeswalkers”.

Apart from Magic: The Gathering, a few other cards were introduced, including Pokemon cards, Game of Thrones: The Card Games, KeyForge, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Sorcerer.

NFT Replace Trading Cards

Today, Trading Cards have been replaced by NFTs. However, this does not mean these cards have lost their essence; people are still collecting them.

However, NFTs are becoming more popular compared to trading cards, these days. This is because NFTs are non-interchangeable units of data stored on a blockchain and trading cards are small cards, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper. Also, NFT gives authority to its owner, on the other hand, Trading Cards could be interchanged with each other.

The trading card industry is limited to sports and fantasy games, but the NFT industry is growing day by day, as there are NFT for fashion, real estate, music, video, and many more.