Non-Sports Trading Cards: Movies, TV, and Pop Culture

Non-sports trading cards predate baseball cards by several decades: the tobacco card inserts produced by Allen & Ginter beginning in 1887 included actresses, athletes, Native American leaders, and world views alongside the baseball players that later generations focused on exclusively. The N2 "Girls and Children" series, the N1 "World's Champions" series, and the N8 "Beauties of All Nations" series from the 1887-1890 Allen & Ginter production represent the foundation of non-sports card collecting, occupying the same historical tier as the baseball issues from the same period. Bowman and Topps brought non-sports cards to the postwar mass market with the 1952 Topps Scoops newspaper events series, the 1957 Topps Space Cards, and the 1962 Mars Attacks series — this last now one of the most valuable non-sports sets in the hobby.

Non-Sports Trading Cards collecting is driven by subject and era rather than the athlete-performance framework that structures sports card collecting. The horror and science fiction imagery of Mars Attacks (1962, pulled from distribution by Topps due to graphic content concerns) created a distinct scarcity tier that PSA grading and auction documentation has formalized. The entertainment card tradition — Hollywood actors, TV show tie-ins, Star Wars cards from 1977 — produces its own collector market where completeness standards follow the set structure rather than individual star performance. The 1977 Topps Star Wars series, with its blue, red, yellow, green, and orange series paralleling the film's theatrical run, established the film tie-in non-sports set as a reliable secondary market product.

Two practical habits. Grade non-sports sets by the same centering and surface standards as sports cards — PSA and BGS grade non-sports cards with the same criteria, and high-grade examples of Mars Attacks, Star Wars 1977, and other landmark non-sports sets carry the same grade-dependent premiums as sports key cards. And distinguish between card issues from the same set year when the print run produced multiple series with different back designs: the 1977 Topps Star Wars series used color-coded backs across five series that collectors track separately, and a complete set requires the correct back color for each card number, not simply one copy of each image.

The Mars-Attacks long game

Learn the Non-Sports Trading Cards fundamentals — Allen & Ginter 1887 historical tier and how the tobacco card tradition relates to the postwar Topps and Bowman non-sports market, how Mars Attacks 1962 scarcity developed and how it affects current auction pricing, and which film and television tie-in sets have produced the most documented collector demand — and keep notes on set, series, grade, and back design at purchase.

Find the other non-sports collectors

Niches like Non-Sports Trading Cards grow sharper when collectors tracking landmark sets can compare grading notes and sourcing leads. Amassable lets you log cards with set and condition notes, display the non-sports collection like a gallery, and meet others completing the same Mars Attacks or Star Wars series. Early members help shape how this specialty develops.

Your turn

Log the cards, document the sets, compare notes with the community. Amassable is built for Non-Sports Trading Cards collectors — catalog what you own, track the landmark set gaps, and start conversations about the Mars Attacks and Allen & Ginter pieces worth pursuing. Download Amassable from the official store links on our homepage, and help bring the non-sports community together, one 1887 tobacco insert at a time.