Card trays have been a useful accessory for Catan for many years. The demand was such that in 2020 Catan partnered up with Gamegenic to release a great quality custom "Trading Post" card tray.
However this was not the first card holder released by Catan. That honour goes all the way back to 1998 when Kosmos released the "Club-Paket" to readers of the Siedler-Zeitung* (Settler-News).
This special Club-Paket set not only contained the very first card holder, but also the very first frame for Catan too. The frame was adaptable for both 4 player and 6 player games.
While the set only had a very brief mention in issue 2/98 of the Siedler-Zeitung (Settler-News) at a cost of just 10DM it apparently sold out very quickly. Some sites report the set was also given as a gift to members of the Kosmos-Sielder-Club too, but there is no mention of this in the newsletter.
Today this first card tray has become a very collectible piece of early Catan memorabilia and can often be seen listed at more than 50 Euros.
The Club-Paket envelope in the attached photo is an unplayed set that is autographed by Klaus Teuber, while the card rack itself is from another opened set and has been well used.
* Siedler-Zeitung was the membership newspaper of the Kosmos-Siedler-Club and was printed in hard copy from 1997 until 2010. After 2010 the newspaper went online and copies up to 2019 can still be viewed on the German Catan website, https://www.catan.de/fuer-fans/newsletter
