The Collectible Card Museum arose from the work of the avid collector Giuseppe Panini, who founded the Panini company in 1961 along with his brothers Benito, Franco Cosimo, and Umberto.

Over the course of the years, Panini collected hundreds of thousands of little colour prints which in time formed this extraordinary collection; it became a museum located within the company in 1986. In 1992 Giuseppe Panini and the company decided to donate the Museum to the Municipality of Modena, the city considered its natural home as the capital of the modern trading card.
Alongside authentic trading cards, the collection includes materials similar in technique and function: small antique prints, matchboxes, charity stamps, paper currency, menus, small calendars, and albums published by card companies for collecting series or created by collectors as a hobby, following only their aesthetic taste and imagination, as well as many other materials.
The Museum opened to the public on 15 December 2006 in the prestigious location of Palazzo Santa Margherita, which also holds the Biblioteca Delfini library, the City Gallery, and the O. Vecchi - A. Tonelli Higher Institute for Musical Studies. Palazzo Santa Margherita is located where a church dedicated to St Margaret once stood. Used first as a convent from the 12th century and later as a barracks, since 1874 it has been home to a historic association for the protection of at-risk youth (Patronato pei Figli del Popolo).