Gold Card Talk Member
| When I've gone down the shore, I have seen many of those machines with DC Comics cards (Superman and Batman, and their villains) and ones for the 1971 Willy Wonka film with Gene Wilder. |
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Silver Card Talk Member
| I have the Willy Wonka set and a handful of others. I always liked playing these machines, now that they've added cards (they're more like credit cards) it's a no-brainer. |
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Diamond Card Talk Member

| I have seen many vending and arcade machines that include cards. Have not been down to the Jersey shore in ages. Nobody is saying who made these cards you are talking about. Is there a manufacturer named? Are the cards licensed for the theme? Are the games licensed? If so, does the license extend to the cards?
The question isn't whether or not the cards are nice looking and people keep them. People can keep anything they want. The question was are these coin pusher cards collectible to a person who has a card collection?
If you can identify origin and prove licensed manufacturing, the answer is YES.
If you can't and they are unlicensed, the answer is NO. They would have no collectible value because they are technically counterfeit, created by an unknown company, in unknown numbers, for an unknown time. Whatever selling value they may have is purely as novelties and they shouldn't be mixed into anybody's legacy card collection. Unlicensed cards taint the collection. |
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Diamond Card Talk Member

| Just goes to show that there are new card topics out there. I can't recall anyone discussing these Coin Pusher cards on Card Talk before. So I did a quick search on the forum and nothing besides this new thread came up. On Blowout there is a couple of older short mentions, but not about licenses.
So, looking at the card backs on a Google search, they have TM DC. I see no specific manufacturer stated. This Bandai Namco seems to be the amusement game machine maker. These cards are classified as collectible card games. I have only seen DC characters so far, nothing of the other titles mentioned.
Without knowing who makes them and in what editions, they would appear to be licensed under the broad DC franchise. Now Upper Deck has a DC license for entertainment trading cards, which we know. These Coin Pusher cards are not the same thing, so there could be multiple DC licenses.
Because the ones I've seen are drawn DC characters, I don't know how much the market value could be, unless there are prizes involved.
This subject is a new one on me, but the facts remain the same. If these cards are licensed by DC they are indeed collectible. If you get any other cards out of vending machines that have no license when there is a copyright holder, they are not collectibles, just cheap novelties. |
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Diamond Card Talk Member

| This brings up the interpretation of the meaning of an unlicensed card. Many people get it wrong. They believe any card without a license is automatically unlicensed.
That is not true, because many cards don't need a license. They use subjects in the public domain, or they work around stepping on anyone's copyrights. They don't violate any existing license holders and are therefore in compliance with the law.
An unlicensed card is a card that is created without getting the approval or paying for the approval of the existing copyright holder. If that happens, those cards are considered counterfeit merchandise, especially when mass produced for sale. Custom cards are a bit different when made strictly as an individual hobby, but selling can be a problem.
I have heard card collectors refer to certain products like Pop Century as unlicensed. No, Leaf may not have specific property licenses when making these celebrity cards but works around them in photos and text.
Whereas making cards of DC characters or Marvel characters or Disney characters without a license is counterfeit unlicensed merchandise. It's not really a gray area. If someone holds an existing copyright license, that license must be bought or rented before anyone else can reproduce images, and especially for profit. |
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