I remember reading an NSU article, many years ago, probably in the 1990s, about cards or sets that had the potential for substantial price appreciation in the future. That article identified product premium inserts as the general category of cards having the greatest likelihood of going up in price. My experience is that the article's conclusions have been right on point, but it did not specifically name any particular cards or sets.

In this thread I am seeking the input of other collectors in posting their thoughts for future collectors, as to which and why a certain card or set of cards has/have the makings of substantially appreciating in value down the line.

Please limit your comments to promotional cards or sets only, which include: promos; prototypes; samples; comic inserts; product premiums and toy/action figures inserts. Be as specific as possible rather than state, Marvel or Disney or Star Wars etc.. Also, please do not ask to buy sell or trade any of the cards mentioned here. I will go first.

One of the hardest and most valuable little known product insert sets is the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring video game cards by Vivendi. In the early 2000s, when the movie came out, a plethora of video games were released on X-box, PS2 etc.. by Vivendi, a video game manufacturer. They inserted, a trading card in specially marked video game boxes, reproducing the characters and props from the movie. Some cards depict the heroes and villains while others show the weapons and other artifacts associated with the movie. Not all video games that had a trading card in it were labeled as such, making the search that much more interesting.

What makes these particularly valuable is that the product each came in was not cheap(games prices varied from the $20s to $50 range) and you didn't know which card you were getting in each game! Interestingly, on the front of the specially marked game's packaging that contained a trading card, there was a sticker that identified some of the cards as being "very rare". Based on my research, there are 21 different cards with at least one additional card exhibiting a variation. I have yet to identify which cards were short printed and which were more common so I don't know which are exceptionally rare. I do know that Vivendi no longer exists and merged with Activision in 2008.

There are still some of these specially marked, and some not, video games with trading cards available for sale at very reasonable prices,(much less than originally priced) on the net. Some even show the picture of the card it comes with.

Given the huge worldwide following that LOTR has garnered, in my opinion, these cards, once discovered, will command a robust premium in the future.

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

Because its a slow night and the promo card collectors haven't kicked in to this thread yet, I would pose this question to you promoking. It goes along the lines of which is better, to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond?

Do you think its a good thing for promo card collectors to have cards with appreciation potential or is it enough just to have the fun of chasing and finding an obscure card that only a few experts know exists?

I ask this with great respect for the Card Talk members who post here with vast knowledge of promo cards, almost like a secret society. Talking of cards I never knew about, that are highly sort after by no average card collectors. If these cards did suddenly have great demand, followed by increased value or as you say appreciation potential, wouldn't that take many out of the price range of a lot of dedicated promo collectors? So if and when you do locate them, you find that only others can afford them.

Sometimes the road less traveled can be a lot more rewarding than the beaten path. Promo cards are a special niche for special card collectors. I'm not one of them, but I can appreciate the purity. Invite in big money and it becomes like all the rest of this hobby. Just my thoughts and I know no one asked me.

Hi Promoking,

I'll have to look for that article. Picking "winners" is tough in sports betting and stocks. In sports there's always a surprise team that goes on a winning streak and the average person doesn't catch on until the third week and then rides too long. I learned long ago not to collect cards I think will be worth more in the future.

I thought those Dark Horse signing cards were going to take off especially the Star Wars ones. Well, it seems so did everybody else. The Star Wars ones (except for one, "The Protocol Offensive") are easy to get now because promo collectors, the Star Wars collectors, and the casual card collectors grabbed what they could then. You can get almost all of them for a few bucks each. Even "The Protocol Offensive" might cost you just ten bucks.

The good news is I liked those Dark Horse cards. I was at SDCC when they were giving them out and it was an exercise in patience getting in line for one per hour, several hours of the show every day. I liked the range in artwork in them and was able to get a sample of almost all of them - just missing a few.

With that said it does make sense that a product premium would have a chance at a good payday down the road. The cards are available firsthand for a short time and the companies do not tend to have leftovers to give out afterwards (though they do sometimes so it doesn't hurt to ask). That gives you that element of limited quantity from the start. If it was a promotion that went under the radar of most collectors, you have the element of rarity after the fact. I think of those Aladdin cards from Dannon yogurt. A lot of Disney and promo collectors didn't know about it so you have more demand than supply.

You brought up the Lord of the Rings Activision cards. That does seem like a set with potential with the built-in difficulty of completing the set with so many cards that are needed and seeded only one per product at $20 per product. PCE2008 has it at $3 per card. The game was released in 2002 so in 18 years would you say the value per cards has doubled or tripled? Not knowing these cards well, I see them as $5-10 cards based on what it would cost to get them now. As you said, you generally have to buy a copy of the game to get a card. One question is, "Are these cards more likely than other Lord of the Rings cards to go up in value in the future?" The cards have already pretty much doubled in value and maybe tripled. The thing that helps is that there is a LOTR TV series in the works. If that show does well, there will be new cards to collect and the new interest will help sell older sets like this one.

Thinking about LOTR cards, I think two sets that have a chance at increasing in value are the two Kellogg's sets that were available in Germany. The cards are 3D and show characters from the movies. They also appear to be part of a game. They have a nice, colorful look. I've seen the one for "The Fellowship of the Ring" (24 card set) and I have the one for "The Two Towers (16 card set). They are still going for just about $1 per card by the set so I think a collector has a better chance at buying low and selling high with this one since the set is still rather cheap.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by promoking:
I remember reading an NSU article, many years ago, probably in the 1990s, about cards or sets that had the potential for substantial price appreciation in the future. That article identified product premium inserts as the general category of cards having the greatest likelihood of going up in price. My experience is that the article's conclusions have been right on point, but it did not specifically name any particular cards or sets.

In this thread I am seeking the input of other collectors in posting their thoughts for future collectors, as to which and why a certain card or set of cards has/have the makings of substantially appreciating in value down the line.

Please limit your comments to promotional cards or sets only, which include: promos; prototypes; samples; comic inserts; product premiums and toy/action figures inserts. Be as specific as possible rather than state, Marvel or Disney or Star Wars etc.. Also, please do not ask to buy sell or trade any of the cards mentioned here. I will go first.

One of the hardest and most valuable little known product insert sets is the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring video game cards by Vivendi. In the early 2000s, when the movie came out, a plethora of video games were released on X-box, PS2 etc.. by Vivendi, a video game manufacturer. They inserted, a trading card in specially marked video game boxes, reproducing the characters and props from the movie. Some cards depict the heroes and villains while others show the weapons and other artifacts associated with the movie. Not all video games that had a trading card in it were labeled as such, making the search that much more interesting.

What makes these particularly valuable is that the product each came in was not cheap(games prices varied from the $20s to $50 range) and you didn't know which card you were getting in each game! Interestingly, on the front of the specially marked game's packaging that contained a trading card, there was a sticker that identified some of the cards as being "very rare". Based on my research, there are 21 different cards with at least one additional card exhibiting a variation. I have yet to identify which cards were short printed and which were more common so I don't know which are exceptionally rare. I do know that Vivendi no longer exists and merged with Activision in 2008.

There are still some of these specially marked, and some not, video games with trading cards available for sale at very reasonable prices,(much less than originally priced) on the net. Some even show the picture of the card it comes with.

Given the huge worldwide following that LOTR has garnered, in my opinion, these cards, once discovered, will command a robust premium in the future.

Albert,

I remember at the time that the LOTR films came out, purchasing the boxed video game because it advertised a LOTR card. From what I recall, the game was expensive (maybe $ 40 to 50) and the card I pulled was smaller than your traditional card, and depicted a sword.

Is this part of the series that you are talking about ?

I recall reading upon release, that there were DOZENS of different cards for this video game, which as noted, came 1 per box. And the game itself was at least $ 40-50. At that point I decided not to collect them...

I have often wondered why Ed Webbs Sci Fi promo cards have not reached the value that I think they should have
Afterall they are semi limited , basically sketch cards ,and are drawn by some quiet sought after artists ,
I would of thought that the sketch card world would of climbed all over some of these and the prices for them or at least some of them would of commanded premium prices .
Mabey they will pick up in the future I do have all up to date at present heres hoping

quote:

Do you think its a good thing for promo card collectors to have cards with appreciation potential or is it enough just to have the fun of chasing and finding an obscure card that only a few experts know exists?

Raven, the cards I mention above are fully licensed Lord of the Rings ones, not exactly an unknown franchise. The intent for this thread is to help out collectors by identifying cards that have the potential to appreciate in value, rather than go the way many other cards have gone(see Inkworks). What's wrong with, while enjoying the cathartic benefits of collecting, also hope that one day, when the time comes, that our obsession will have created a little nest egg for us. You and I both know that collectibles in general do not normally appreciate in value and that it's mostly the opposite that occurs. However, I believe I'm qualified to identify certain trading cards, mainly promotional, which may increase in price later on, and pass that information on to the members of this board.

Whether someone is interested and acts upon it is up to that individual collector. With respect to your comment concerning people not being able to enter or remain in the promo card collective, because of price appreciation, should our ranks swell, I would like to point out that your argument applies across the board to all types of collectibles throughout history. With most promo cards selling for under $5.00, I don't think joining our ranks will break anyone's bank account anytime soon. I definitely have fun chasing but I also want to teach my fellow collectors, if they're interested, about what's out there to discover. I call it sharing the knowledge.

As you know, I've been collecting these cards for a long time and have a pretty good pulse on what's going on out there when it comes to promos. I disagree that we represent some arcane, cultish side of the hobby. That was perhaps who promo card collectors were 20 years ago. What I have found today, is that there exists 4 types of promo card collectors.
The first are the die hard collectors exclusively of promo cards. The second are the collectors who have taken a burgeoning interest in promo collecting and are starting to add to their collection. They're out there! The third are what I call "the franchise" collectors. These are collectors who want to acquire everything that exists for Marvel; Star Wars; Disney; certain comic characters, Benchwarmers; card manufacturers or any other popular product line introduced over the last 30 years. The last category are the completists who will chase down the last card necessary, and it's often the promo, to complete their set.
So with what I know and seen with these 4 groups of collectors who are regularly looking for promos as well as the occasional impulse buyer, I don't consider collecting promo cards to be the proverbial "child you keep locked up in the attic" of the non sport card collecting hobby. In fact, thi subgenre hobby has truly begun to achieve a mainstream following and is no longer relegated to the secret society we once were considered. One of the main reasons I and many others collect promo cards is because of the breadth of topics they cover. I never get bored! I have learned so much about pop culture and americana over the last 30 years just by amassing these little pieces of cardboard. Promo card collecting is here to stay. I thought I would help spread the knowledge some of us hold, by offering information on this thread that would be interesting to a wider audience.
I hope I answered your question.

I just got my THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY free P1 promo card from Rittenhouse Archives, and I appreciate it!

quote:

Originally posted by promoking:
[QUOTE]

Raven, the cards I mention above are fully licensed Lord of the Rings ones, not exactly an unknown franchise. The intent for this thread is to help out collectors by identifying cards that have the potential to appreciate in value, rather than go the way many other cards have gone(see Inkworks). What's wrong with, while enjoying the cathartic benefits of collecting, also hope that one day, when the time comes, that our obsession will have created a little nest egg for us.

I would like to point out that your argument applies across the board to all types of collectibles throughout history. With most promo cards selling for under $5.00, I don't think joining our ranks will break anyone's bank account anytime soon.

As you know, I've been collecting these cards for a long time and have a pretty good pulse on what's going on out there when it comes to promos. I disagree that we represent some arcane, cultish side of the hobby.

Thanks for your response, I regret that your answer really isn't for what I was trying to say and that may be my fault, as I didn't seem to get across my message to you.

I was praising the promo card collector. Rather than your believing I was disparaging it as being an "arcane, cultish side of the hobby", I was saying that they represent true card collectors to me. If that sounds old fashioned, well I'm an old card collector too.

As someone who collects primarily certified non-sport autograph cards now, but does not sell, the increasing prices that come with low supply and high demand are very restrictive to me. You do have to get in on the ground floor of potential, or you won't get all the cards you want because, without ever cashing in on profits, many cards are too expensive to buy.

Promo card collectors can still buy most of what they want if they can find it because the demand is less and confined to a smaller market. That is hardly a bad thing and if you thought I was knocking it, I was actually admiring it.

To your topic and the LotR cards, the promo set you mention sounds typical and perhaps a LotR completist might be interested. These cards have been around for years and I'm guessing the games, which were the main attraction, aren't popular or played anymore. If you want to increase potential, you have to draw in new blood. Pointing them out may interest someone who likes the franchise, but the original Topps cards are still widely available and Cryptozoic is producing a new product tied into Middle Earth that will release in the future. LotR cards will be in it. I hope they will include actor autographs, but I have seen little info so far. Franchise collectors will probably be interested. I don't know if that might help or hurt your promo recommendation.

As I do not sell I really dont care if promo cards appreciate or not
As my collecting interests are out of the modern times were lately promo cards are being issued in limited numbers and then being sold for large ammounts.
The Outlander series comes to mind are there actually enough Promo collectors out there to suck up the ammount of promo cards that should of been issued or did the company print in limited quantities to create the prices being asked for these cards
We all like to see our cards appreciate in value but some of the issues that will appreciate we will never be able to aquire as they are not within our collecting interests.and most of us dont even think of collecting them thus they fade into the sunset , and after a few years become valuable then even when they do there is still only a small ammount of collectors that will buy them . Unless it is within my collecting interests i really do not care if it appreciates or not
But with this being said i do not want to see the prices stagnate or crash .
But remember it dose not matter how much cards appreciate when it comes to selling our collections we are still going to get pennies on the dollar

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
Albert,

I remember at the time that the LOTR films came out, purchasing the boxed video game because it advertised a LOTR card. From what I recall, the game was expensive (maybe $ 40 to 50) and the card I pulled was smaller than your traditional card, and depicted a sword.

Is this part of the series that you are talking about ?

Yes, that's the series I'm referring to, although they are the size of a trading card. I just discovered that there are more than the 22 cards. Unbeknownst to me, additional cards were inserted in other Vivendi products around the same period. I know of at least 3 new ones.

Thanks Albert for an interesting thread/topic, I'll give it some thought and let you know, I'm already thinking of an Aussie release...

quote:

Originally posted by cardscout182:
I'm already thinking of an Aussie release...

Waiting with bated breath!

quote:

Originally posted by promoking:

quote:

Originally posted by cardscout182:
I'm already thinking of an Aussie release...

Waiting with bated breath!

Meanwhile, here's another recommendation of a card that has the potential to appreciate in value:

The 1996 CHAMPIONS IN ACTION SPECIAL 9 card uncut promo sheet by Skybox! This sheet displays images of DC's Batman; Marvel's Spider-Man; Disney's Pocahontas and Star Trek's Captain Kirk on it! Nowhere else in the annals of non sport cards have all of these characters, from huge franchises, appeared together. This limited edition sheet was issued by Fleer/Skybox in conjunction with the Children's Miracle Network (charity), and includes some well known athletes as well.

So, this sheet, in my opinion, once discovered, will appeal to collectors across many genres and subgenres of sports and non sports cards. However, since I believe that non sport card collectors are more tolerant of sports cards invading(see infecting) their territory than vice versa, these cards will probably be more sought out by non sport card collectors rather than by baseball or football ones.

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

Since any additions to this thread would mirror an earlier thread begun by Raven in the general card discussion section, under the name "cards to watch", I will no longer be posting recommendations to this one but will continue to do so in "cards to watch".