ABOUT ESCO TRADING CARDS

Exhibit Supply Company (ESCO), is the legendary collectibles brand founded in 1901 and credited with helping invent the modern trading card. Exhibit Supply Company was among the earliest producers of collectible picture cards featuring entertainers, athletes and cultural icons, including Charlie Chaplin, Babe Ruth, Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones as well as the first company to release trading cards independently of other consumer products such as tobacco or gum. ESCO Trading Cards stands as the only premium trading card brand dedicated exclusively to music and pop culture, bridging more than a century of collecting history with the future of the hobby.

Timeline

  • 1901 – First Impression

    • ESCO’s story begins in Chicago at the dawn of penny arcades, when it was a small printing business. In the years that followed, arcade machines dispensed ESCO’s novelty exhibit cards—postcard-sized pictures printed on thick stock— which turned moments of amusement into tangible memories visitors could bring home.

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  • 1914 – Pioneering an Industry

    • Expanding beyond the cards, ESCO began distributing coin-operated amusements to penny arcades. By 1917, its own machines dispensed its exhibit cards, giving visitors more reasons to play, stay, and take a little arcade magic with them. 

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  • 1920’s – From Novelty to Celebrity

    • As exhibit cards grew in popularity, so did ESCO’s distribution to boardwalks, movie theatres and amusement parks nationwide. The cards began to feature performers, pin-up girls, famous athletes, and celebrities. Over the next 30 years, ESCO’s roster would include Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Veronica Lake, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, and many more. To keep up with demand, ESCO printed a new card series every 30 days, turning famous faces into a collecting habit. 

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  • 1960’s – Rock Joins the Roster

    • The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are widely known for reshaping music and pop culture, and their ESCO cards helped create the blueprint for modern music trading cards. Biographical details on the card backs gave fans a more personal way to get to know the musicians.These cards offered an early glimpse of the music trading cards to come and paved the way for fans to connect, collect, and celebrate music and pop culture.

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  • 2026  – A New Era of Trading Cards

    • More than a century after its founding, ESCO Trading Cards revived the iconic ESCO brand with premium, limited-edition cards featuring today's musicians and cultural icons, bringing fans closer to the artists they know and love. Its KATSEYE “WILD” collection debuted at Target stores nationwide, carrying ESCO from penny arcades to major retail shelves.