First hierarchical parallel tier system

Why it matters

Wild Card debuted in 1991 with a mechanic no one had tried at scale: every card in the base set printed at six rarity tiers, denoted by a stripe count of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, or 1000 across the card front. Cards were physically identical except for the stripe denomination. Even weirder, each denomination was redeemable: mail in a 100-stripe card and Wild Card would send back 100 packs. Brett Favre's #119 rookie is the marquee card in the system, and the 1000-stripe Favre is one of the rarest and most-hunted parallel cards of the entire era. Every rainbow parallel Panini ships today, from Prizm base to Silver, Blue, Green, Gold, Red, and Black, is a direct descendant of the Wild Card stripe system.

How to identify

1991 Wild Card Football card #119 Brett Favre. Look for a vertical stripe count on the card front indicating denomination (5, 10, 20, 50, 100, or 1000). The base card is the 5-stripe; the 1000-stripe is the top chase. Redemption stamps on the back indicate cards sent back to Wild Card were destroyed and not returned.