ATC vs ACEO

[gereeofmountainair]

I am still new to this genre and I have heard ATC & ACEO used interchangeably and I am confused on the differences if there are any. Are ACEO's the same as ATC'S or a distinction of ATC's? Or something else?

[artistjillian]

It's easy to be confused. ATCs have been active since the 1990s and were decreed to be for artist only to swap, face-to-face. As it expanded they still were traded, but it stopped being face-to-face, but the term Art Trading Cards became common use. Together with magazine articles, books, and never ending products to aid in the creation of them. As well as classes and tv shows featuring them. The beginnings of art cards go back centuries. More information is available on website art-cards dot org. You will see that many creators of ATCs stick rigidly to 'trade ONLY'. Especially if you do a search on the web. When I started doing ACEOs, last April, I knew of them from ebay, but didn't understand, then I finally learnt about them on wetcanvas dot com, and knew nothing of trading. Once I realised what they were I joined in on ebay, and immediately was addicted - especially enamoured at their collectibility - they fit albums! I soon found out that there was much activity at the time trying to stop those selling them. I received many emails as well as not able to join ATC groups just because I sold (I did also trade a few at that time). Theoretically this makes swapping of ATCs only open to those that make them, leaving many people who do not wish to create them, unable to collect them. Fortunately ACEO creators have weathered this, as you can see by the large following on ebay. ACEOs came about with the creation of a group of some visionary artists on ebay, suggested and headed by bone*diva, in October of 2004. The members put forth submissions to create a name other than ATC for use on ebay, and 'ACEO was the winning acronym by poll vote. I still have a tendency to use 'ATC' from time to time because I do a lot of crafts locally, where the ATC name only is used. Mentioning ACEO is either still shunned, or unknown to so many who do create and collect art cards.

[artistjillian]

ATCs and ACEOs are the same. 2.5x3.5" only.

[artistjillian]

The History of ATCs Art Cards have a very long and very interesting history. Art cards or miniatures where the rage in the 16th century. They were mostly portraits and they were sold, not traded or given away. They were the first wallet "photos". Men would have nudes painted of their Mistresses on art cards (without their wives knowing)--usually by the same Artist that would do the big family portraits of their wives. Miniature Portraits would be used for exchange when rich people arranged marriages. In fact, this caused a big problem for poor Henry the Eighth, when the artist who painted his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, took a little too much "artistic license". Poor Anne was not up to standard and Henry divorced her. The French artists were the first to come up with advertisement on the art cards. It wasn't until the mid-1700's that the English picked up on the idea of using the Art cards for advertising. The Art Cards of Europe are slightly larger than ours as is their standard deck of playing cards is much larger than ours. During the Impressionist Age artists traded art cards among themselves to study each other's style and techniques. They also traded or sold the art cards as necessary for supplies, food and lodging In 1887 "baseball" cards started to appear. These early cards are now very rare and it is uncertain what they were made of. They were not mass produced. During the period 1902 - 1935 baseball was in its golden years. Cards during this time were usually sold with bubble gum, chewing tobacco and cracker jacks. As they were marketed with different size products, baseball cards were different sizes and it was not until the 1960s that the modern 2.5 x 3.5 size was standardized. Today there is a resurgence of hand made art cards for sale and trade. Happy Collecting!!! Compiled by eBay member "joyjoyblue"

[gereeofmountainair]

Thanks! That explains it!