The United States Playing Card Company is a large American producer and distributor of playing cards. It was established in 1867 as Russell, Morgan & Co. and founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in its current incarnation in 1885. Its many brands include Bicycle, Bee, Tally-Ho, Champion, Congress, Aviator, Aristocrat, Mohawk, Maverick, KEM, Hoyle and Fournier. It also produces novelty and custom playing cards, and other playing card accessories such as poker chips. For decades the company was based in Norwood, Ohio, but as of 2009, the USPC is currently headquartered in the Cincinnati suburb of Erlanger, Kentucky.
A trading card is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing and a short description of the picture, along with other text. When traded separately, they are known as singles. There is a wide variation of different types of cards.
A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. In the 1950s, they came with a stick of gum and a limited number of cards. These cards feature one or more baseball players, teams, stadiums, or celebrities.
The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures trading cards and other collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards. Topps also produces cards under the brand names Allen & Ginter and Bowman.
The Fleer Corporation, founded by Frank H. Fleer in 1885, was the first company to successfully manufacture bubble gum; it remained a family-owned enterprise until 1989.
Non-sport trading cards are a particular kind of collectible card designated as such because trading cards have historically prominently featured athletes from the world of sports as subjects. Non-sports cards are trading cards whose subjects can be virtually anything other than sports-themed.
Donruss was a US-based trading cards manufacturing company founded in 1954 and acquired by the Panini Group in 2009. The company started in the 1950s, producing confectionery, evolved into Donruss and started producing trading cards. During the 1960s and 1970s Donruss produced entertainment-themed cards. Its first sports theme cards were produced in 1965, when it created a series of racing cards sponsored by Hot Rod Magazine.
The Upper Deck Company, LLC is a private company primarily known for producing trading cards. It was founded in 1988. Its headquarters are in Carlsbad, California, United States.
Allen & Ginter was a Richmond, Virginia, tobacco manufacturing company formed by John F. Allen and Lewis Ginter around 1880. The firm created and marketed the first cigarette cards for collecting and trading in the United States. Some of the notable cards in the series include baseball players Charles Comiskey, Cap Anson, and Jack Glasscock, as well as non-athletes like Buffalo Bill Cody.
In The Game (ITG) was a sports card manufacturing company founded by Brian H. Price in 1998 with its head office in the United States and an office in Canada. The company mainly produced ice hockey trading cards. In 2014 the right to use the "In The Game" name was transferred to Leaf Trading Cards in Dallas, Texas.
The O-Pee-Chee Company, Ltd. was a Canadian confectionery company founded in 1911 based in London, Ontario. O-Pee-Chee was best known as a maker of trading cards. It entered into a marketing agreement with the Topps Company in 1958, releasing several collections of baseball, gridiron football and ice hockey cards.
Bowman is a brand of trading cards owned by Topps.
A razor is a bladed tool used for removing unwanted body hair.
Parkhurst Products was a Canadian confectionery manufacturing company based in Toronto. Parkhurst also produced Parkies and Zip trading cards in the 1950s and 1960s. Led by George Kennedy, it primarily produced hand-size picture cards mainly for ice hockey, but also for baseball, Canadian football, wrestling and other subjects.
A hockey card is a type of trading card typically printed on some sort of card stock, featuring one or more ice hockey players or other hockey-related theme and are typically found in countries such as Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden where hockey is a popular sport and there are professional leagues. The obverse normally features an image of the subject with identifying information such as name and team. The reverse can feature statistics, biographical information, or as many early cards did, advertising. There is no fixed size or shape of hockey cards, running the gamut from rectangular to circular, however modern North American cards have typically standardized on a 2.5-by-3.5-inch rectangular format.
An American football card is a type of collectible trading card typically printed on paper stock or card stock that features one or more American football players or other related sports figures. These cards are most often found in the United States and other countries where the sport is popular.
Sport industry is an industry in which people, activities, business, and organizations are involved in producing, facilitating, promoting, or organizing any activity, experience, or business enterprise focused on sports. It is the market in which the businesses or products offered to its buyers are sports related and may be goods, services, people, places, or ideas.
Razor Entertainment Group, founded in 2005, was a private company that produced trading cards and collectibles. Based in Dallas, Texas, it was best known as a producer of baseball cards and other lithographic products.
Pro Set was a Dallas-based trading card company founded by Ludwell Denny in 1988. Denny had gained a card license that year after making and selling other NFL memorabilia in previous years. His licensing agreement with NFL Properties allowed Denny to gain access to its extensive photo library and become the first card maker officially associated with a professional sports league. Across the bottom of most of his company's cards was its designation as "The Official NFL Card", a distinction it held through 1991.
Tristar Productions, Inc. promotes sports collectible events, distributes autographed sports memorabilia, and manufactures and distributes trading cards. The company was founded in 1987, in Houston, Texas, by Jeffrey R. Rosenberg. At Tristar's collectors shows, current and former sports players autograph memorabilia. The organization distributes trading cards for organizations including Minor League Baseball and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
