Patent Abstract:
The structured trading card display kit provides a way of displaying trading cards in an organized manner, based on a particular index assigned to the kit. The index can be selected from a large possible group and the kit includes structure identifying the index as well as a display assembly.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to structured trading card display kits. More particularly, the kits are provided for creating an organized showing of trading cards, with the cards being structured around specific indicia for each kit. The kits may or may not include the required trading cards therein. 
     2. Prior Art 
     Heretofore, various means for storing and/or displaying trading cards have been proposed. However, such means have proffered no structuring or organization in how the cards are displayed. Typically, the cards are merely merged haphazardly into a framed collage with no rhyme or reason thereto. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, there is a need for a structured, organizational kit by means of which trading cards relating to particular indicia can be collected and displayed together, with or without informational data presented therewith. 
     These as well as other objects are met by the organizational structured trading card display kit comprising a frame, glass surrounded by and seated within the frame, a mat, a backing, and a second piece of glass, the mat being sandwiched between the pieces of glass, and the mat having a predefined number of cutouts therein, the number of cutouts being defined by indicia selected for which cards are to be displayed. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective blown apart view of one embodiment a kit made in a accordance with the teachings of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a side view through a second embodiment of a kit made in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 is a frontal view of a third embodiment of a kit made in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a frontal view of a fourth embodiment of a kit. 
     FIG. 5 is a frontal view of a fifth embodiment of a kit made in accord etc. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, there are illustrated therein various exemplary embodiments of the organizational trading card display kit made in accordance with the teachings of the present invention and generally identified by the reference numeral  10 . These exemplary embodiments should not be construed as limiting. 
     Each kit includes at least a frame  12  within which an inset glass plate  14  is nested. Behind the glass plate  14  is positioned, a mat  16 , which is of a thickness at least equal to, if not slightly greater than the thickness of a trading card  18 . Pinioning the mat  16  against the framed glass  14  is a second piece of glass  20  followed by a backing  22  which is releasable secured to the frame  12  in a manner compressing the glass  20  against the mat  16  which is, in turn compressed against the glass  14 . 
     The mat  16  includes a plurality of cutouts  24  therein each of which is sized and configured to snugly receive a trading card  18  therein. The number of cutouts  24  in each mat  16  is based on the indicia for the particular display kit  10 , as will be defined below. 
     Also provided are a plurality of blanks  26  created when the cutouts  24  are formed, equal in number to the number of cutouts  24  with the blanks  26  obviously fitting snugly into the cutouts  24 . 
     The above structures define the display kit  10  in its most simplistic form. However, this should not be construed as limiting. 
     For example, the display kits  10  may be provided for a collector to place his own cards in or, alternatively, if desired, the display kits  10  may also include the trading cards  18  pertaining to the particular kit  10 . 
     Turning now to the indicia for each display kit  10 , and using sports trading cards  18  as the example, such indicia may be, for example “1976 OAKLANd RAIDERS”; “JERSEY #31”, “BASKETBALL HALL OF FAMERS”; “OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALISTS-SKATING”; “HOME RUN HALL OF FAMERS”; “QUARTERBACK”; “JOE NAMATH”; “BLACK Hawks-1999”; “Babe Ruth-career”; “Soccer Hall of Framers”; “STEEL Curtain”; ad infinitum. 
     Further, whenever “STAT CARDS”  30 , cards bearing statistics, such as for a particular player, or “ROSTER Cards”  30 , such as for a team for a particular year, are available, these will also be accommodated for in each display kit  10 . 
     Still further, where no such cards  30  are available for a particular index, a tag  32  bearing a title for the collection being displayed will be provided as shown in FIG.  5 . However, this will not preclude use of a tag  32  even when a card  30  is available, as shown in phantom in FIG.  3 . 
     Still further, it is proposed to provide a mat  16  and frame  12  which may display “team colors” when a particular team is in the index for the collection, as shown in FIG.  4 . Here, the frame  12  is shown lined for the color silver and the mat is shown lined for the color blue, to indicate a team with those colors. 
     It will be understood that in some instances, a card  18 ,  30  may not be available. For example, the 1976 Raiders team was comprised of  19  players, and thus 19 or 20 cutouts  24  would be provided dependent on the existence of a stat or roster card for the index. A collector may not have all 19 cards. For this reason, the blanks  26  are provided. A blank  26  is inserted into an unused cutout  24 , to provide a more aesthetic appearance to the display, hiding the underlying backing  22 . 
     As described above, the display kit  10  of the present invention provides a number of advantages, some of which have been described above and others of which are inherent in the invention. Also modifications may be proposed to the kit  10  with out departing from the teachings herein. For example, the frame  12  may be of any functional shape and may be positioned in any desired orientation, such as horizontally displayed. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is only to be limited as necessitated by the accompanying claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6