Collector's Edge was founded in 1991 by Mark A Raymond and Alan P Lewis. The company's first major league license was from the National Football League, for plastic cards that could be stuck to any smooth surface. The first full release was '92 Edge Football, a black-bordered card with full-body action shot on the front.

The height of the recent card collecting boom was reached in 1991 when the market was estimated at over $1 billion US. Throughout the 1990's the market became weaker and weaker as the cost of collecting increased and potential new young collectors were diverted by video and computer games.

At the same time, there was a large increase in the number of licensed manufacturers and an increase in the number of brands produced by each manufacturer. The competition among manufacturers for a piece of this shrinking collector base lead to a system of "one-up-man-ship" within which, each week, a new card set was announced with fewer cards, brighter cards, numbered cards, one-of-one cards, exclusive player cards, rookie cards, etc., -- something better and costlier than what came before it. Collector's Edge, as the newcomer and last NFL licensee, lead the way in many of these competitive innovations, some of which are still unmatched.

Trading Card Firsts

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Some of the "firsts" in licensed, nationally distributed card sets by Collectors Edge are:

-Announced production runs.
-Serial numbers on every card to verify production.
-Full set plastic cards.
-Cards with game used football leather embedded in their face.
-Cards with jersey, shoe, and helmet material embedded in them (Game Gear).
-Season-long interactive games based on player stats.
-Game used football leather on the entire back of the card (Edge Leatherbacks).
-"Internet Ready", pre-graded cards (Edge Graded).

Hasta La Vista

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During the company's lifetime, revenues increased reliably from year to year, eventually reaching $15 million -- this while the trading card market dropped to less than a quarter of its peak value during the 1990's. Dozens of once-successful companies filed for bankruptcy or fire sale and disappeared, such as Donruss, Action Packed, Pro-Set, Pinnacle, Fleer, Skybox, Wild Card, Pro Line and many other smaller companies.

In 2000, company managers faced the difficult decision of whether or not to again sign two year royalty guarantee agreements with the NFL and NFL Players Association for $4,000,000 US based on a 20% royalty rate on sales. Considering the state of the market and the continuing downward trend, the company decided pay all its bills, transition its employees to new jobs, and to make 2000 Edge Masters (released Dec 2000) its last release.

The final card set included a chase card appropriate called Hasta La Vista!