TRACTORS AND MACHINERY ERTL CASE FARM TOY 4 CARD SEALED PROMO SET CP1-CP4 1993

Description

WHY COLLECT PROMO CARDS?
Over the years, like most card collectors, I began to amass hundreds and then thousands of trading cards from various sets. However, as my collection grew, an inverse relationship developed between the space available in my house and the area I needed to keep these little pieces of cardboard in--sound familiar? Candidly, I also started to get a little tired of seeing 100 pictures of the same T.V show, movie, superhero, actor, etc..
Then, by chance, I discovered the promo card. In the early days, approximately 30 years ago, manufacturers of trading cards began making a small number of pre-production cards for their upcoming card series which they would then send to card dealers and distributors throughout the United States and abroad. This way, the Non-Sports or Sports card shop owners could look at and feel a sample of the upcoming product and decide if they were going to order it by the case, the box or not at all.
Back then, most stores would receive a handful of these sample cards. The owners would give one or two to their best customers, maybe keep one for themselves and toss the rest in the garbage. After all, these cards had no intrinsic monetary value since they were free and the series they were promoting was a few short months away from being released.
Thus, came into being the first promo cards!
Collecting promo cards was the perfect solution to the overcrowding and the nascent boredom I was experiencing with traditional card collecting. After all, why not collect, for example, just the 1 or 2 Star Trek promo cards issued for a specific set or series, rather than the 100 regular cards that form the set plus all the chase and special cards?
A scarce promo card's value is determined by how many of its kind have survived the carnage of the early days. Thus, prices for many early to mid-1990's promo cards, for example, are not artificially set because they were never found in packs and there is no concrete information available not only concerning how many were made but more importantly on how many still exist.
To illustrate,  despite the millions and millions of trading cards being sold on eBay every year, there are still some promo cards that have NEVER appeared for sale while some others have made a cameo appearance every few years.
IF YOU ENJOY A CHALLENGE, IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO START COLLECTING PROMO CARDS. ASK ME HOW!
Promo card collecting is still in its infancy as compared to stamp, coin, or standard card set collecting to name a few. Although the world of promo card collecting has burgeoned over the last few years, many collectors have still not caught on to or appreciated the true rarity of some of these cards, especially those made in the early 1990's thru early 2000's.