I was thinking about this the other day and you know there are lots of threads on lots of boards about all these great cards that are really rare and limited and worth gobs of cash and everyone wants it blah blah blah... ~whatever~

For every card like that there are hundreds that no one seems to care about, and that's what this thread is for. Well that and I thought it might be interesting to see what you folks think of as well. So What do you think is a seriously underrated card and why?

Note that I said underrated and note undervalued, because this is not just about money and speculative "worth", it's more about the whole "collectability" factor (that's so not a real word is it). Personally I collect cards I like and some that are rare, sure I have some extremely valuable stuff, but at the same time I have some oddball and obscure stuff that is to me at least just as valuable.

I will start you off with one of mine:
One of my favourite and in my opinion a seriously underrated cards is the 1990's Tick Chrome autograph from Ben Edlund. Not only did this guy create a very funny (and still unfinished) comic, (who couldn't love a man eating cow?) he has also gone on to work on some very big TV shows.

He has written several Supernatural episodes (including the brilliant season 3 "ghostfacers")and is in fact one of the producers for the show. This card was limited to 500 copies, and I watched one finish last night for less than $20.00. That's a steal in my book. He also worked on Angel and Firefly, so I figure his only autograph card is very very underrated considering how many shows he has worked on. Feel free to tell me I am wrong though

Great Idea

Just one card came to mind when I read your post and that is the Ronnie Barker auto card in one of the Avengers sets.

Here is a greatly missed British comedy ICON. and was the 1st card I strove to get wnen that set was released.

I am serously down-grading my collection and most of my cards will go. just focussing on the Star Trek sets, but the Ronnie Barker I will never part with.

I think RA's sets like Outer Limits and Twilight Zone are a treasure trove of autos for people you may recognize, or think you recognize from something you've seen.

Though he's not as "underground" as your Edlund, I'd add RA's Outer Limits A4 auto of Hal Holbrook. Most people may know him from his Best Supporting nom from "Into the Wild" but he's been in scores of other stuff. He's played roles from Lincoln to Deep Throat to Twain, and many others in between.

There are the usual silly BINs, but usually it ends under $20 on eBay. A steal if you ask me.

Great topic, To me it would be the Star Wars 30th Anniversary John Williams autograph. He has 5 Oscars with 72 nominations. The auto card is only $73 in the NSU guide.

Some of the Movies you hear his music in:
Jaws
Close Encounters of the 3rd kind
Indiana Jones
Star Wars
ET
Superman
Harry Potter

Depending on your own view of what art is, a lot of the early 90's art sets were incredible. My wife still loves here Hildebrandt sets and the Art Treasures of the Vatican is one of my favorite sets. You can find these sets in "junk" bins for 1 to 3 dollars.

I am only interested in certified autograph cards and there are two groups that I would regard as underrated.

The first is character actors that are pretty well recognized, but show up as common autographs in TV or movie sets mainly because no one remembers their names. The second is very well known actors that are quite expensive on cards from their primary roles, but have other autograph cards in less important sets that are very affordable.

Character actors can be found everywhere in Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Americana, you name it.

A good example of the well known star would be James Earl Jones, whose autograph I could never afford as Darth Vader on a Star Wars card, but was able to pick up on a Conan expansion card for roughly a quarter of the price. Its the same signature, so its all the same to me.

Great Thread !!!

In my opinion, the Nightmare Before Christmas autograph set looked really cool.
1) Had great art. And had a clever concept of writing the autographs on the famous "moon background"
2) Tim Burton autograph!

p.s. the Spectra cards are really beautiful too (different set, but still related)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PaNdeM0niuM,

quote:

Originally posted by PaNdeM0niuM:
Great Thread !!!

In my opinion, the Nightmare Before Christmas autograph set.
1) Had great art. And had a clever concept of writing the autographs on the famous "moon background"
2) Tim Burton autograph!

p.s. the Spectra cards are really beautiful too (different set, but still related)

yes its a very nice set. do you know what the odds were on pulling an autograph card from a box?

quote:

Originally posted by tragicend:

quote:

Originally posted by PaNdeM0niuM:
Great Thread !!!

In my opinion, the Nightmare Before Christmas autograph set.
1) Had great art. And had a clever concept of writing the autographs on the famous "moon background"
2) Tim Burton autograph!

p.s. the Spectra cards are really beautiful too (different set, but still related)

yes its a very nice set. do you know what the odds were on pulling an autograph card from a box?

someone please correct me if i'm wrong.
I think it was 1 per case (each case had 4 boxes?)
You either get a costume card or autograph card.
The elfman and burton autograph card were much harder to pull than the other two.

The Autos were 1 per box from the NECA Nightmare set. I probably opened 10 boxes and never pulled a Burton or Elfman auto. The film cell cards were one in 4 boxes.

Well for me, it's the Chronicles of Riddick set.

You get Judi Dench, Thandie Newton and Karl Urban (the new Bones in Star Trek) under one roof. Was fairly cheap for me to snap up as well if memory serves, and as I'm about to radically thin down my movie/TV card collection, these will be tough to part with.

Great thread

quote:

Originally posted by Boldlygone:
Great Idea

Just one card came to mind when I read your post and that is the Ronnie Barker auto card in one of the Avengers sets.

Here is a greatly missed British comedy ICON. and was the 1st card I strove to get wnen that set was released.

I am serously down-grading my collection and most of my cards will go. just focussing on the Star Trek sets, but the Ronnie Barker I will never part with.

The Ronnie Barker auto is definitely underrated as is the Eric Sykes one from Harry Potter Memorable Moments.
A mainstay of British comedy when I was growing up.

quote:

Originally posted by weasel-king:
I think RA's sets like Outer Limits and Twilight Zone are a treasure trove of autos for people you may recognize, or think you recognize from something you've seen.

I agree. The Twilight Zone and Outer Limits sets have some great character actors that you will probably recognize, but not necessarily know the name. Plus, there are the bigger name actors, such as Shatner, Nimoy, Russell Johnson, etc., which make for interesting card pursuits.

quote:

character actors

I love my Twilight Zone cards. character actors in every series and you can all way point them out to friends who didnt watch twilight zone and say " see it's that one guy from that one show". I also love the Wild Wild West cards Rittenhouse did. Come on where else am I going to get a Don Rickles card.

Great topic!

The newer Outer Limits: Sex, Cyborgs & Science Fiction had some really good autos that you can find most for $5-$20. Alan Thicke, Beau Bridges, Burt Young, William Sadler, Robert Picardo, Rebecca DeMornay, Margot Kidder, Natasha Henstridge, Michael Ironside, Holbrook again....

I agree on both Twilight zone sets.

I've always been fond of the old painted sets like Mars Attacks and Battle. A more recent set that is almost as good and dirt cheap is Dinosaurs Attack!. It was released by Topps and was a major bomb sales wise but it's a great set. I haven't looked in a while but you used to be able to get a box for around $10.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
I am only interested in certified autograph cards and there are two groups that I would regard as underrated.

The first is character actors that are pretty well recognized, but show up as common autographs in TV or movie sets mainly because no one remembers their names. The second is very well known actors that are quite expensive on cards from their primary roles, but have other autograph cards in less important sets that are very affordable.

Character actors can be found everywhere in Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Americana, you name it.

A good example of the well known star would be James Earl Jones, whose autograph I could never afford as Darth Vader on a Star Wars card, but was able to pick up on a Conan expansion card for roughly a quarter of the price. Its the same signature, so its all the same to me.

Totally agree on both counts.

I'm always amazed at how cheap some cards go for despite the talents of the actor and even despite the significant role they played in a show/movie. Some of my favourite Bond character actors that go for a pittance are Jonathan Pryce, Giancarlo Giannini and Jesper Christensen. Perhaps I overestimate their 'greatness' but it es seem that without a 'limited' label they pretty much always fall under the radar.

One big exception I have found though is Robert Carlyle, on a Bond auto card, who played the main villain in the Bond film he was in, can go for under £20! At £40 I'd still say it was a bargain for such a good actor.

As for the 'well-known' actor on 'other' cards, my favourite is the Ian McKellen X-Men Movie promo autograph, hand numbered to 2,500, and released through Diamond if I remember correctly. Sure his standard X-Men auto won't break the bank but the promo card version is cheaper (there are two on eBay for under $10), was probably produced in the same quantity as the pack-inserted auto, and the dark image suits the character much more IMO. A bargain for an authentic autograph from Sir Ian McKellen.

quote:

Originally posted by LUZNDAVE:
Great topic, To me it would be the Star Wars 30th Anniversary John Williams autograph. He has 5 Oscars with 72 nominations. The auto card is only $73 in the NSU guide.

Some of the Movies you hear his music in:
Jaws
Close Encounters of the 3rd kind
Indiana Jones
Star Wars
ET
Superman
Harry Potter

I agree 100%. His auto card is the most cherished out of my entire collection.

I love my Vijay Armatraj auto from the James Bond set. I remember watching him play tennis years ago, and then play a part in a few James Bond Movies. When his auto card was released, I had to have it. You get a person who is both an profesional athleate and movie star on the same card at a decent price.

I was thrilled to finally get a Gary Graham autograph with an Enterprise set. I loved him in Alien Nation!