W-Cards (Strip/Exhibit)

Introduction

Strip cards were generally given with purchases or sold by retailers. Hence the name, they mostly came in a long strip where merchants could cut or rip off a certain amount for customers. For this reason, strip cards often have uneven or rough edges. Also classified as W-Card issues were Exhibit postcards and those are included in this section as well.

The hand-cut nature of the cards has given grading companies fits over the years. Some graded strip cards are all deemed as ‘Authentic’ grade since they were hand-cut instead of being factory cut, regardless of what the actual card may look like. Others have been graded based on the rest of their appearance and have earned numerical grades.

Putting it politely, strip cards have a mostly poor reputation in the trading card industry. Unlike some of the artwork in the gorgeous tobacco and early candy sets, the depictions in strip card sets are often poor and without any real quality. Early strip cards used colored drawings while later ones, like other cards, went to real black and white images once that became more widely used. Strip cards, in general, just were not done all that well.

Also identified in the W-Card category are Exhibit cards. These are larger, post-card like cards. Some have a formal postcard backing on them which collectors could use to send greetings in the mail. Others have different backings that are blank or contain things like special offers. Here’s a closer look into the world of Exhibits.

Here’s a little more about strip card collecting.

Like the other non-sports pages, this is not meant to be a full listing of non-sports issues in this category. Rather, it includes only some of the more popular ones listed in the American Card Catalog.