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