Gallery of non sports first cards

[Peter_Spaeth]

It is increasingly in vogue to see people call first cards of movie stars, musicians, politicians, other historical figures, etc. "rookie cards." I do it myself sometimes although always in quotes. A couple of observations:

1. Given the sheer number of often obscure issues out there, most of them foreign, and the uncertainty about the date of lots of these issues, it can be very difficult if not impossible to be sure what someone's first card is. There are some helpful resources, but far from definitive.

2. The term is massively misused and abused on ebay. I would bet close to half the cards people call rookie cards, are not. Some of it is ignorance, some of it is willful in my opinion from sellers who know better.

3. TPGs are horrible at dating many issues, and don't respond to corrections. For example, they insist on calling a particular Michael Jackson card 1969, which would make it his first card, except that it was really issued in 1973. There are countless examples of this.