COLLECTIBLE CARDS

History
The first cards appeared in packs of cigarettes between 1910 and 1913. After World War I, from 1924 to 1925, another line of cigarettes with hockey cards was issued.In 1920, the cards were printed by a food company. From 1941, hockey cards were printed by O-Pee-Chee, but the company stopped production after World War II.The next series issued were Shirriff Desserts, York Peanut Butter and Post Cereal from 1951-1952. Toronto-based Parkhurst began issuing cards in 1951. This was followed by Topps which began printing in 1954-1955. O-Pee-Chee and Topps did not produce cards in 1955 and 1956, but returned to cards the following year.There are dozens of hockey card printing companies in the U.S. market today. Some of the best known include Upper Deck, Pro Set, Pinnacle, etc. 

 Hockey card - Canadian card from 1910
A hockey card is a type of collectible card, most often printed on some type of card stock, with a hockey motif. The front most often just lists the player's name and team, or some additional information. On the other side there may be statistics, brief information about the player and biographical information. On older cards, there may also have been an advertisement.These cards have no specified size, but over time they have become standardized into a rectangle 8.89 cm high and 6.35 cm wide.