Trading Card Terms

Here's a glossary of trading card terms I found on a non-sports trading card site that apply to Wizard of Oz trading cards. Scroll down to see my entry on Oz trading cards.


Autograph Card – card hand-signed by an actor, crew member, or production member; autograph, costume, memorabilia, and sketch cards may vary from card to card

Archive Box – sealed box that contains all cards found in the trading card series (all base cards, chase cards, and autograph/costume/memorabilia/sketch cards)

Base Set – standard set of common cards; normally comes in sets of 72, 81, or 90, but there are the occasional sets that come with fewer or more cards

Binder Exclusive Card – card found only in the trading card binder for that particular series

Box Topper – card found one per box; there are normally 3-4 different box toppers per series that will make up a set

Case Topper – card found one per case; may be an autograph card, costume card, die-cut, or just a special card to be found one per case

Chase Set – set of uncommon to rare cards; normally comes in sets of 6 or 9 and are found in ratio packs (e.g., 1:9 = one chase card found in every 9th pack of cards); typical chase set can be a puzzle set, a foil set, or a sticker set, or may contain images on a theme

Common Card – card easily found; base sets are made of this type of card

Costume Card – card containing cloth material; may come directly from the costume worn by the actor or from the bolts of cloth from which the costumes were made; autograph, costume, memorabilia, and sketch cards may vary from card to card

Exclusive Promo Card – promo card created exclusively for an event (e.g., San Diego Comic Con) or for a company (e.g., Non-Sport Update)

Hobby Box – sealed box containing autograph cards, costume/memorabilia cards, and/or sketch cards; available from distributors

Insert Set – see Chase Set

Master Set – complete set of cards from a series; includes the base set, all chase sets, all autograph/costume/memorabilia/sketch cards, promo cards and the binder

Memorabilia Card – card containing an authenticated piece of a prop (e.g., paper, foam, yarn, etc.) used in the series/movie; autograph, costume, memorabilia, and sketch cards may vary from card to card

Promo Card – card created by the manufacturer to generate interest in the trading card series; there are normally between 1 and 3 promo cards created per set, but there have been instances where there are more than 3

Prop Card – see Memorabilia Card

Puzzle Set – see Chase Set

Rare Card – card found mainly one per sealed hobby box; autographs, costumes, memorabilia, and sketch cards are made up of this type of card

Sketch Card – card hand-sketched by an artist depicting various characters or scenes from the series/movie; may be in pencil, pen, or may be in color; autograph, costume, memorabilia, and sketch cards may vary from card to card

Subset – see Chase Set

Ultra-Rare Card – card that is very hard to obtain and may be found only one per x cases (x could be 1, could be 6, depending on the rarity of the card) Most high-end autograph cards are considered ultra-rare, e.g., Judy Garland in an edition of only 8 cards total

Uncommon Card – card found 3-9 per sealed hobby box; chase sets are made up of this type of card

Wax Box – archaic term used today to indicate an unopened sealed box that is in the same condition as when it left the manufacturer; it is archaic because the cards are no longer packaged in wax paper

Wizard of Oz Trading Cards

I remember helping my older brothers open their packs of Star Wars trading cards in the late 70s. Would the pack I open have the final card to complete the set? The anticipation was more delicious than all of the gum I was chomping on. It used to be great fun to complete the trading card sets and subsets of stickers. Trading cards used to be pretty simple pleasures. Maybe there would be a card or sticker that was rarer than the others, but that was nothing some haggling with the local comic dealer couldn't fix. Then you'd trot home with your prize and look over your completed card set for hours lingering a few moments longer on that one card that was hardest to obtain. Ah, the good old days.

Like most other hobbies, trading cards have advanced and gotten much more intricate in the past 15+ years. Gone is that vile tasting gum that left residue on the precious cards. Now there are cards of foil, puzzle cards, panoramic cards, autograph cards, costume cards, and sketch cards. Yikes!

Here's a look at Wizard of Oz trading cards. Let's start with the simple ones shall we?

Trading card giant Topps issued a set of 44 Return to Oz trading cards in 1985. Each card had a sticker on the reverse.

A set of 100 cards was issued by Pacific with each card featuring a different scene from the film. they could be purchased in individual wax packs or as a boxed set.

In 1996 Duocards released a 72 card set with a glossy finish and foil logos. Collectors could also look for 6 foil chase cards. Each display box included a purple album that in addition to the basic set and foil chase cards, also had room for two promo cards.

This year, fledgling trading card company Breygent has brought us the most complicated Oz trading cards yet. Five promos were issued to entice collectors. In addition to the 72 card basic set there are foil cards, puzzle cards, munchkin autograph cards, cut signature cards of Judy Garland and Jack Haley, costume cards, prop cards, and sketch cards by 20 artists. These special cards will be very rare and may frustrate Oz completists, but the rest of us will probably enjoy the thrill of the hunt. Breygent also offers a collector's album in an edition of 500. The album includes two exclusive cards. Only 5000 boxes have been produced and sold out from Breygent in about a month.

Journey Back to Oz

I apologize for the lack of updates. Many of you may know my computer crashed but I'm slowly recovering. Onwards and upwards............

I do have some exciting news today, but with very little details yet unfortunately. It was announced at Comic Con over the weekend there will be a Journey Back to Oz Special Edition released on October 24th. No other details are known at this time.

I will be updating soon about trading cards, Madame Alexander dolls, maybe Christmas ornaments, and other new fun things.

Thank you for your patience and stay tuned...........