For the oddball card collector, there are those cards not made of cardboard, but of porcelain, pewter and tin to collect.
Metallic Impressions |
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Release Date: 1996 |
Metallic Impressions burned brightly but briefly on the Trek card-collecting horizon. They created a series of trading card styled and sized cards made of metal.
The series started with a promo card released at Huntsville in September of 1996. The card showed the TOS Enterprise on a metal card and was limited to 15,000, Only 5,000 were brought to Huntsville, the other 10,000 and whatever didn’t sell were eventually repackaged in M.I. mugs and steins.
There were three tin sets. The first two were released in 1996. One was a 6 card TOS “Crew of the Enterprise” tin, the second was a 20- card episodes set featuring first, last and favorite episodes and crew. This tin set was limited to 12,000. The third tine set was the first of what was to be a Distinguished Officers Set featuring Kirk.
Though M.I. appeared excited about future sets, the other planned series never materialized. These sets, as with any tin, were rough on some collectors who felt obliged to leave the cards in an unopened tin and therefore were unable to fully enjoy them or were forced to buy two.
Hamilton Collectibles Pewter Cards
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Release Date: 1999-2000 |
In 1999 and 2000, Franklin Mint released what was supposed to be a 12 card set of pewter trading cards. The cards, though thick, are standard trading card size. They come in a black cardboard display box. When the set was finally released after a long delay only three color and one non-colored pewter cards were issued. Although Franklin Mint only officially released the 4 cards, at least some amount of the others were made. A collector added an Enterprise Constitution class uncolored and an Error Klingon BOP uncolored with the Ent D info on the back to their collection via Ebay, but it’s origin is unknown.
Hamilton Collectibles Porcelain Cards
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Release Date: 1992 and 1996 |
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Though many are card shaped and sized, these cards are made of the very breakable porcelain. They usually come with some sort of display piece.
Hamilton Collectibles had a series of porcelain trading cards in 1992. Three TOS and 5 TNG delta insignia shaped cards with the character’s image came packaged in a blue box with a clear plastic top.
In 1996, they released two sets of porcelain card using images from some of the plate lines they offer. These images are more card shaped and sized. There were two 12- card series, the Voyages (artwork by Keith Birdsong) and Characters (artwork by Sonia Hillios). Each card with a large display board. Hamilton no longer has the license to do any more Trek plates or cards and many collectors were left with incomplete sets, especially with the Character set which was still being mailed out as the line closed. Though Hamilton states they notified everyone of the changes to allow them to order the rest of the subscription, many collectors reported not hearing about it until too late
Promos
Several prototype cards (with different backs) have surfaced.