Well you can have a piece of memorabilia on display at one museum or you can give hundreds the chance to own a piece.
I know which one i'd go for.

I have collected costume cards for a few years and never thought of anything wrong with it. That was until I started collecting props and complete costumes. Watching that video it just seemed like it takes the magic out of the prop. There it is unpicked until it isn't even recognizable as being a hat and then cut into hundreds of pieces. Didn't look too special when it was scooped up and put into those little bags now did it?

I don't know, I still love the costume cards I've aquired over the years, but to actually own the outfit that someone wore on screen, particularly the Hero item that you can screen match, it just means a bit more to me. Even more so for props. Having the whole book as it looked on the show is better than having a tiny bit of it.

I think the thing that really made me mad was when someone purchased a bunch of LOST costumes from the auctions and then proceded to create their own costume cards out of it. I get a card company doing it, but someone else? I just wouldn't buy those cards simply out of principle.

I'm kinda on the fence about that myself, Sidewinder. What it all comes down to for me is that I'd rather see small pieces in many different collections and have the opportunity to own a piece myself, without having to spend the money to own large pieces. The only real studio auctions I know of are run by VIP Auctions and their pieces go for quite a bit.

Yes, I get what you mean and there are of course costumes that I'd love to have, but they are far out of my price range, so having just a bit of it is something I would settle for.

VIP auctions is one house, but there are several more, however I always find Profiles to be the most expensive - they did LOST and many of those prices went far above my expectations.

I have mixed feelings about it. . .

For old or rare items I absolutely don't think the original items should be cut up. That goes for cut signatures too. . .

But most modern TV and movie productions save everything, and over 10 seasons there were thousands of wardrobe items used in a series like Charmed. Lots of those wardrobe items were just off the shelf type shirts, and they really aren't all that collectible in the prop market anyway. So you can take a $50 prop shirt from Charmed and make it into 300 $20 prop cards.

Watching them cut up things like a Babe Ruth bat, or Thor's hammer isn't cool though.

I don't know where the line is. . .

The other thing collectors have to realize is that many of these costume or wardrobe cards are not REALLY actual worn items. The wording on the card backs can be very vague, to the point where sometimes you don't even know if it was ever worn or where it came from at all.

Cutting up most of this stuff is no loss to anyone. Its also no great find for collectors. At one time material cards were premium hits. Now there is such an abundance of them in practically every product that they are, as the saying goes, "a dime a dozen".

Well not quite that cheap, but pretty close.

i think its wonderful they do that. I mean yeah its a shame that it will never be the same again but it does bring some people joy to own alittle piece of history. Myself, I treasure all the costume cards i own (to have an actual piece of my favorite shows is the coolest thing).