So here is the triple box break of a mate.

Extras:
Ayshea Brough Web Only Autograph Card AB4
10 assorted promo cards (1 UFO, 3 Thunderbirds, 3 Avengers, 3 Space 1999)

Box contents:
1 colour sketch of Paul Foster in Interceptor Cockpit by Don Pedicini Jr
Wanda Ventham WV1
Mike Trim MT1 (x2)
Tessa Wyatt TW3
Christian Roberts CR1 (badly printed)
Jane Merrow JM3
Derren Nesbitt DN1
Susan Jameson SJ1
Michael Jayston MJ3
Matt Zimmerman MZ1
Stephen Chase SC1

Not a bad selection. Shame about a double already but not unexpected.

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

My box was #ed 3 of 1299

Contents:

Michael Jayston auto MJ3
Mike Trim auto MT1
Christian Roberts auto CR1
Wanda Ventham auto WV2


So it looks like the same as above, but I received WV2 and not WV1

Not that I am selling my UFO autos, but I looked on ebay at sales for the 4 that I pulled

Looks like the Ventham sold in the $ 40 range, but my other 3 went for a mere $ 5-10 each

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
Not that I am selling my UFO autos, but I looked on ebay at sales for the 4 that I pulled

Looks like the Ventham sold in the $ 40 range, but my other 3 went for a mere $ 5-10 each

I would say that you can consider yourself lucky to have pulled one auto worth $40. Of course even the demand for Ventham will be limited to UFO fans, as it would be hard to find any other card collectors that recognize the name.

This is the problem that you face with these titles that maybe are known well to UK audiences, but not so much in the US. It even effected the large Doctor Who signature sets that had 80 and 90 signers at a time and if I knew 20 of them it was a lot. So how are you going to sell autograph cards, even limited and numbered autograph cards, when there is no demand because not enough people even heard of the actor?

You're not. You must pull a universally known star or a good sketch to get value from a blind box. That's not just UFO. Same could be said for many titles with very specific fanbases. Without broad based demand no one card, not even the big hit, cracks the box price any more.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
I would say that you can consider yourself lucky to have pulled one auto worth $40. Of course even the demand for Ventham will be limited to UFO fans, as it would be hard to find any other card collectors that recognize the name.

Strange as it may seem, Wanda Ventham might be an exception to that rule. Thanks to her being Benedict Cumberbatch's mum, she is known to a new group of fans and potential collectors these days. Heck, she even appeared as Sherlock's mum in the TV series Sherlock. Typecasting or what

quote:

Originally posted by Kevin F:

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
I would say that you can consider yourself lucky to have pulled one auto worth $40. Of course even the demand for Ventham will be limited to UFO fans, as it would be hard to find any other card collectors that recognize the name.

Strange as it may seem, Wanda Ventham might be an exception to that rule. Thanks to her being Benedict Cumberbatch's mum, she is known to a new group of fans and potential collectors these days. Heck, she even appeared as Sherlock's mum in the TV series Sherlock. Typecasting or what

Good example of UK and USA recognition. I did not know she was his mother, I just knew she was a star in UFO back in the 70's from Wikipedia. They don't even mention her son until the end and I didn't read that far down.

Would it make a difference? Not to me, but some autograph collectors might look for a combo.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
... Of course even the demand for Ventham will be limited to UFO fans, as it would be hard to find any other card collectors that recognize the name...

Wanda Ventham was in virtually everything ITC produced in the 60s-70s, from The Saint to The Prisoner.

quote:

Originally posted by WOMBLE:

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
... Of course even the demand for Ventham will be limited to UFO fans, as it would be hard to find any other card collectors that recognize the name...

Wanda Ventham was in virtually everything ITC produced in the 60s-70s, from The Saint to The Prisoner.

Sometimes actors who are revered in the UK have virtually no recognition in the US. That is especially true for actors in long ago British based TV shows, even with the US reruns.

No disrespect to Wanda Ventham, but I could survey 500 random people in my neighborhood, and I would drop dead if I found one of them who knew her name.

So I know that you may think she was in virtually everything, but please believe me, its a small circle, in a small niche area, who knows it.

quote:

Originally posted by WOMBLE:

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
... Of course even the demand for Ventham will be limited to UFO fans, as it would be hard to find any other card collectors that recognize the name...

Wanda Ventham was in virtually everything ITC produced in the 60s-70s, from The Saint to The Prisoner.

If you check out her entry in the IMDB you'll see she's been appearing pretty much continuously in UK shows from the 60s right through to present day. But people in the USA probably wont have heard of most of them. Sherlock and her 60s appearances....maybe

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0893243

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by WOMBLE:

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
... Of course even the demand for Ventham will be limited to UFO fans, as it would be hard to find any other card collectors that recognize the name...

Wanda Ventham was in virtually everything ITC produced in the 60s-70s, from The Saint to The Prisoner.

Sometimes actors who are revered in the UK have virtually no recognition in the US. That is especially true for actors in long ago British based TV shows, even with the US reruns.

No disrespect to Wanda Ventham, but I could survey 500 random people in my neighborhood, and I would drop dead if I found one of them who knew her name.

So I know that you may think she was in virtually everything, but please believe me, its a small circle, in a small niche area, who knows it.

There are a lot of US Actors who would not be recognised in the UK. It's not a one way street

quote:

Originally posted by hammer:
There are a lot of US Actors who would not be recognised in the UK. It's not a one way street

No argument, that was my point.

To have broad based demand for an autograph card, you have to have a well known actor with international appeal. Then you transcend even the title of the product because additional card collectors and just autograph seekers are interested in acquiring the signed card. The more demand, the more bidders, the higher the price.

Don't even know why this is an issue to be refuted. Wanda Ventham is not an international star in the US. No disrespect. Her autograph cards will sell best in the UK where she is well known for UFO and other shows.

That argument doesn't really hold every time. I think the pricing is based on scarcity.
Take for example a card of an internationally known star in an obscure set but where several cards were produced and still floating about. Ian McKellen/No 2 card from the Prisoner set. Still able to be got for a relatively silly £15. Nothing to do with the signee, nowt to do with the set. All to do with the availability. I think Wanda ratios at 1 per case. Hence the scarcity and 'value'.

quote:

Originally posted by Kevin F:
Strange as it may seem, Wanda Ventham might be an exception to that rule. Thanks to her being Benedict Cumberbatch's mum, she is known to a new group of fans and potential collectors these days. Heck, she even appeared as Sherlock's mum in the TV series Sherlock. Typecasting or what

Timothy Carlton who played Sherlock's father is Benedict's father (and Wanda's husband).

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Don't even know why this is an issue to be refuted. Wanda Ventham is not an international star in the US. No disrespect. Her autograph cards will sell best in the UK where she is well known for UFO and other shows.

I had no intention of starting a big blow-up on this subject which is why in my original post I said:

'Wanda Ventham MIGHT be an exception to that rule.'

and then explained why she COULD be an exception. Prices for autographs vary for all sorts of reasons, so everyone is correct here

Kevin, not a blow up at all. A very good conversation. I learned a lot, including who Benedict Cumberbatch's parents are.

And anything that any of us say is usually going to come out looking like some grand declaration that is an absolute when in fact, even if it's mostly true, you can always find exceptions. That's why it's so darn hard to post comments and adequately explain what you really mean. So you leave another post and you muddle it up even more. It's all good.

And yes to Spencer's point, scarcity and availability of a card do matter. You don't need overwhelming demand, you just need more people that want something than can get it.

4 box overall break

1) Mike Trim MT1 (x3)

2) Michael Jayston as Russell Stone all 3 auto's

3) Stephen Chase as Film Director all 2 auto's

4) Derren Nesbit as Col Craig Collin's DN1

5) Gary Files as Phil Wade GF1

6) Jane Marrow as Josephine Frasier JM1

7) Georgina Moon as Lt Sylvia Howard Missprint autograph card

8) Matt Zimmerman as Co-Pilot Jim MZ1 auto

9) Ayshea Brough as Shado Operative AB3 auto

10 ) Garry Raymond as Colonel John Grey GR2 auto

11) Penny Spencer as Janis PS2 ( in case topper pack )

12 Gerry Anderson Cut Autograph Card GA14

13) Ed Bishop Facsmile Autograph ( in case topper pack )

14) 2 printing plates for card number 11 ( In case topper pack

That is a sweet break, despite the triple Trim.

quote:

Originally posted by Kevin F:

If you check out her entry in the IMDB you'll see she's been appearing pretty much continuously in UK shows from the 60s right through to present day. But people in the USA probably wont have heard of most of them. Sherlock and her 60s appearances....maybe

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0893243

21 credits since 2003, mostly in shows that haven't been broadcast in the U.S.

It's amazing how many TV shows Wanda appeared in that nobody remembers, or at least those of us without ITV.

She had cut autos for Prisoner and Saint and had a redemption auto for the Prisoner Auto Series. Of course, UFO was the only series where they didn't have to identify the episode.