Thank you for the comments Starchild and Tattoox.
I would love to see some of your cards Tattoox - what sort of stuff have you got?

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Originally posted by X:

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Originally posted by wolfie:
The cards look great but I will never get my head round people charging £60-70 to scribble their name or people paying it instead of just falling over laughing.

I don't understand the gripe.

I perfectly understand why you have done what you have done and given the options you have definatly gone for the right one but I still maintain that all that money to just scribble your name is a joke.

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Originally posted by wolfie:

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Originally posted by X:

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Originally posted by wolfie:
The cards look great but I will never get my head round people charging £60-70 to scribble their name or people paying it instead of just falling over laughing.

I don't understand the gripe.

I perfectly understand why you have done what you have done and given the options you have definatly gone for the right one but I still maintain that all that money to just scribble your name is a joke.

I get what you're saying. I'm of the mind that celebs should happily sign autographs because without their fans/popularity they would not be successful. So where do they get off charging totally arbitrary amounts for their signature?

I suppose it's all a matter of getting away with as much as they can. I know if I was a celeb who had to do a meet and greet with the great unwashed (literally), I'd charge as much as I could. But from this side of the table I just think, I don't live in LA and am unlikely to ever bump into anyone who's work I enjoy. If event organisers have to throw some money at these people to get them out of bed so I've got a chance to meet them, it's a small price to pay, depending on who you see of course.

McDiarmid was a bit on the steep side IMO, but I couldn't knock meeting Gillian Anderson(!) and getting her auto for £30 last year.

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Originally posted by X:
To answer your question Raven, I have indeed come up with a new quest...

I have loved Star Wars since my youth and have some of the odd cards here and there but have always balked at getting any official autograph cards from the due to their ludicrous expense caused by Topps' deliberate short printing of very willing signers, and the insanely large fanbase willing to keep prices high. Then we moved to the nasty sticker autos and the idea of Star Wars auto cards went right out the window for me. Plus, despite how many Star Wars auto cards Topps have put out there has never been one style of cards that has actually covered ALL the main players!

Then I saw the Galaxy(5?) autograph series Topps came out with a few years back that utilised the fantastic Joe Smith artwork which reminded me of the Galaxy Bend-Ems promos in the early 90s. Whilst there were many of these promos, 12 of them were 'character studies' commissioned for the 'Star Wars Ensemble' which are great renditions of the main cast.

I have always liked these cards and the 'A' Vader promo was in fact my very first Star Wars trading card when I was a kid (it came with the Vader Bend-Em!). So I thought why not use these as the basis of compiling my own set of Star Wars autograph cards?

I started these last May at UK and don't think I've done too bad so far...





I think I've nearly outdone Topps' effort anyway! And they're all on card signatures that I know are 100% authentic. I don't doubt Topps' authenticity one bit mind you, but it is nice to have an autograph signed in front of you.

Seeing as it was the OTT prices of pack inserted cards which was catalyst to start this collection, below are the prices paid:
Carrie Fisher - £60/$103
Ian McDiarmid - £70/$120
Billy Dee Williams - £25/$43
Dave Prowse - £15/$25
Peter Mayhew - £20/$34
Kenny Baker - £15/$25
Jeremy Bulloch - £15/$25
TOTAL = £220/$375, which I don't think is too bad for all those names and WAY cheaper than pack inserted versions.

The other characters in the series were Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Yoda, C-3PO and Obi-Wan. I think I'm in with a good chance at Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels who, whilst rare signers, are not total recluses.
As for Harrison Ford and Frank Oz... not holding my breath. Alec Guiness might be a good candidate for a cut autograph perhaps.

Thanks for reading - I'm really quite chuffed with these.

Later in the year Destination Trek 3 has some amazing guests and I intend to get some Trek cast on some RA cards for similar reasons. And Patrick Stewart on a Days of Future Past X-Men card. Can't wait!

I had to look back the thread to see where we were, it seems it was almost 2 years ago I said you needed a new quest. Took you long enough!

Those cards are very attractive as a group and to get them autographed makes for a very special collection. I totally disagree with collectors who feel you shouldn't pay for autographs, the whole experience of meeting the signer and having a personal 1/1 signature is worth much more than a certified autograph card to me.

But you also have to acknowledge that some autograph guests do over charge and as such, are not worth the money. You also have to acknowledge that a personally obtained autograph of, say Carrie Fisher, will not fetch the price of a certified autograph card of Carrie Fisher even though it is 100% just as authentic. That is the reality of the secondary market.

But when you are getting autographs as a true fan, market pricing has no bearing because you are not going to sell those items, its all about getting the opportunity to acquire signed memorabilia for you, and you alone.

Good luck with your new quest, I am quite jealous.

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Originally posted by Raven:
I had to look back the thread to see where we were, it seems it was almost 2 years ago I said you needed a new quest. Took you long enough!

Those cards are very attractive as a group and to get them autographed makes for a very special collection. I totally disagree with collectors who feel you shouldn't pay for autographs, the whole experience of meeting the signer and having a personal 1/1 signature is worth much more than a certified autograph card to me.

But you also have to acknowledge that some autograph guests do over charge and as such, are not worth the money. You also have to acknowledge that a personally obtained autograph of, say Carrie Fisher, will not fetch the price of a certified autograph card of Carrie Fisher even though it is 100% just as authentic. That is the reality of the secondary market.

But when you are getting autographs as a true fan, market pricing has no bearing because you are not going to sell those items, its all about getting the opportunity to acquire signed memorabilia for you, and you alone.

Good luck with your new quest, I am quite jealous.

I thought about many different official cards on which to get these sigs but these promos have a very autograph card style look to them and I love the old-school bios on the card backs.

I'd rather not pay for autographs for the reasons stated previously but it's a necessary evil if you want to meet these people and besides, we can all judge what prices are 'worth' it to us. McDiarmid was more than I've ever paid for an in person signature by a good £25 and in many ways I think his price was OTT even though I get paying for Sly Stallone at a recent show at £200+ a pop. Then again, McDiarmid doesn't do signing events all too often and his pack inserted cards are stupid money so from that angle his price was far more palatable to me.

I don't see it as any different/worse than paying the same, or likely much more, for certified autograph cards. Or rather the difference is that the one's you pay for in person are, from a certain point of view, more 'special'. Screw Topp's sticker autographs and unnecessary short printing - I've put together and attractive and affordable set!

As I've already said, despite the obscene number of Star Wars sets Topps have made over the years I was shocked that there has never been one set of autograph style that covered all the cast.
I have a similar problem with RA's Trek auto cards. I am a massive TNG fan but they have never put together a set of auto cards for the crew I like. The Quotable style cards are a horrendous design, the Complete Trek use some pictures with the awful early season uniforms, the Movies style used too many weird shots or silly sailor outfits and the older Skybox auto cards are notable for missing Michael Dorn. I would just like some classic shots in some uniform uniforms - is that so much to ask?!? So later in the year I am hoping to get the cast on my choice of cards in their movie uniforms and I have an idea of some nice RA cards for the remaining TOS cast to sign as well.

I was also disappointed we never got any X-Men: Days of Future Past cards but the images on the promo cards from Carls Jr. I think would make for nice auto cards and will get Stewart on one of those too.

No need to be jealous Raven, just get yourself down to some conventions and you can have exactly the same!

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Originally posted by X:
Screw Topp's sticker autographs and unnecessary short printing - I've put together and attractive and affordable set!

...........................................

I was also disappointed we never got any X-Men: Days of Future Past cards but the images on the promo cards from Carls Jr. I think would make for nice auto cards and will get Stewart on one of those too.

Good points, I would just say Topps isn't necessarily making purposely short printed autographs, but rather, it's harder (i.e., more expensive) for them to get equal quantities of the more popular signers, so thus, there are less of them. They've also gone back to on-card autographs for a decent percentage of the recent Star Wars autographs, so they are considering most collector's preferences to a degree, at least.

As for the X-Men cards from Carl's Jr., those are absolutely ideal for autographs, as they are gorgeous AND they have a nice flat surface without the sort of gloss most modern cards have that renders the them basically unsuitable for autographs. Unfortunately, the set isn't exactly comprehensive. There are a lot of characters understandably not pictured on what is only a 9 card set. A couple of them not pictured on card fronts do appear on the puzzle back image.

Congrats on your collections. It is very handsome, and beyond the value of the cards, it is pretty cool that you have met those people, even if only briefly. There's a value in that, as well.

I'm sure I've posted the first one before but thought I'd put all my in-person/custom autos in one place

John Rhys-Davies (one of my favourite actors from the Bond series):


This one I got the other day when I found out a tutor of mine was a stunt diver on Thunderball! Don't think he had ever been asked for an autograph before but I couldn't resist getting him to sign a Somportex Thunderball bubblegum card from 1966. He happily obliged and told me about the different breathing apparatus they used and the ladies that used to dive with them in the buff! Whilst it probably has no value to anyone but me, it has lots of sentimental value.

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Will Weaton was at SDCC 5 or so years back. He was signing blank autograph RA cards of himself for $25 a pop. Sais he had to sign in a different color and note it was SDCC signed with the auto.

I'll be getting a couple of cards/postcards signed tomorrow from actors, and maybe some from artists.

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Originally posted by X:
Thank you for the comments Starchild and Tattoox.
I would love to see some of your cards Tattoox - what sort of stuff have you got?

Do you mean actors or items?

I have several actor signed cards. Mostly odd items like busts, cars, glasses, etc.....

Actors from Star Wars, X-Files, Fringe, TWD, Star Trek, etc...........

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Originally posted by Tattoox:

quote:

Originally posted by X:
Thank you for the comments Starchild and Tattoox.
I would love to see some of your cards Tattoox - what sort of stuff have you got?

Do you mean actors or items?

I have several actor signed cards. Mostly odd items like busts, cars, glasses, etc.....

Actors from Star Wars, X-Files, Fringe, TWD, Star Trek, etc...........

I did mean cards, but I'd still be just as interested in who've you've met too and what you had them sign. Any pictures would be great.

I plan to hopefully have some more in-person cards to post in this thread in the next couple of weeks.

What event are you attending tomorrow/who you meeting?

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Sean Astin, Ernie Hudson, Sasha Roiz, and Garrett Wang at Rose City Comic Con in Portland Oregon.

Photos are not showing up for some reason.

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It's a shame your photos have not uploaded Tattoox. If you need any help uploading give me a shout.

As I said back in July I had planned to go to Destination Trek in London to get some more cards signed...

The Patrick Stewart I started this thread with is no longer in my collection. It was a beautiful card but my ex collected all the X-Men movie autos and whilst this one was mine, I thought it more appropriate it remain in her collection with the rest of the series.
So this left me without a Patrick Stewart X-Men auto and the Days of Future Past promo represented an ideal opportunity to make a unique card. I figured in homage to the pack-inserted Stewart from X-Men the Movie I'd get it signed in gold ink.


My next little mission, along the same theme as my Star Wars cards, is to have all the main cast of Star Trek The Next Generation. I know between Skybox and Rittenhouse these actors have signed so many different styles of cards, but in all these years I have never seen a series that I liked or was complete.

The Insurrection widevision autos are stunning, but no Michael Dorn! The TNG Skybox auto series are equally nice, but again no Dorn! I like the Nemesis auto design but we only have 3 main crew.

Then there was the Quotable autos that feature the whole crew but with a design which I absolutely hate. So I was really excited when RA announced the Movies series of autos (in the classic and stunning TOS design) a couple years back but we got Brent Spiner pulling a goofy face and Stewart, Burton and McFadden all in sailor hats! I like that scene in Generations but those images are hardly how most remember the characters. Such a WASTED opportunity. I suppose the best I liked so far are the green and white Complete TNG autos but the mix of some really early season pictures mixed with late seasons I find really jarring.

Maybe one day Rittenhouse will make a set of autos featuring all 7 of the crew in the same style of uniform. Is that really so much to ask? Sorry for the long rant, but I'm a big TNG fan and I've been waiting for an amazing set of autos with great pictures of this crew for the longest time and they're willing signers. But until that happens I've decided to use RA's Trek Portraits series featuring the cast from their last ever publicity shoot (for Nemesis). It is a shoot I have always liked and the sepia tone makes them look quite classy I think. Colour versions would have been ideal, but I like these too.

As with the Star Wars promos I had signed, I was further spurred on to do this by the thought of having the pictures I would actually enjoy at a fraction of the cost of pack inserted versions.
(I would have had Jonathan Frakes too but he cancelled his appearance at the last minute):


Finally, I decided to get a card signed by William Shatner. I am not as massive a fan of TOS and could never justify the money for pack cards of Shatner or Nimoy but I managed to get one of the official auto cards from Nimoy's Etsy giveaway promotion so that was Spock sorted.
Then I saw the Trek Transitions chase cards a few months back and I thought they'd make for PERFECT auto cards because they incorporate TV and movie images with a good white space for signing. I LOVE this card and I would not trade it for ANY of Shatner's pack inserted autos: I love how this has turned out that much.
Additionally, Shatner was personalising his autographs this weekend. He NEVER does this and I could not miss this rare opportunity, so I had him address the auto to me on the puzzle back:


I'm really enjoying building a little custom collection - something I'd never thought would be so much fun. Thanks for looking.

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Those are fantastic. You got really nice signatures on that collection of 6 Nemesis, even Mcfadden gave you a couple of extra loops on her usual illegible auto. You have very specific likes and dislikes on these pictures, so building your own gallery is the best way to go if you can catch them in person. Now you really need to get that Frakes, but I think he is pretty accessible in general.

The card you choose for Shatner is wonderful because it has the timeline. I have to say that I always prefer a crisp, blue signature over any other. Yes the gold and siver pens have a flashier look about them, but somehow I think a bright blue jumps out more.

So now that you have these, have you ever considered getting one of these cards inscribed to you. I know it's not recommended because autographs that begin "To So & So" pretty much guarantees that they can only be re-sold to another "So & So". However re-sale is not the goal.

Whenever I go to an in-person signing I try to get the autograph personalized to me on all 8x10s and on any card that has enough room. I find that it makes the experience more intimate than just a standard signing and it won't be leaving my collection anyway.

Thanks for sharing your treasures.

Thank you for the kind comments Raven - it's nice to share a passion and I'm well chuffed with the results. Gates always seems to do a bit more on her convention autos than pack inserted cards these days. Both the 8x10s I have from her are pretty nice examples of her sig too.
Contrary to popular opinion I actually really like Nemesis so these cards have a lot of value to me.
Frakes is not a rare guest but he's getting into a habit of cancelling appearances a fair bit unfortunately. Eager to add him to round out the set. Would have been too easy to get them all in one go!

I was in two minds to get Shatner's auto (him not being as 'important' to me as the TNG crew) but I'm glad I indulged myself, I think the imagery and signature really works. Like you I prefer blue autographs over any other colour, even on some darker backgrounds. That said, sometimes a metal marker is essential for very dark images and they can really pop. I had Stewart sign a First Contact photo and the gold pen looks amazing against his black uniform and I had Karl Urban sign a Dredd pic with a bronze pen (to match the grungy nature of the film) and it looks very sharp.

As for personalisations/having inscriptions... I ALWAYS have autographs addressed to me unless the signer is not personalising, for whatever reason they may have. For reasons of space, and I guess a carry-over from pack inserted autos, I never really thought about having my name on trading cards. That was until the lady managing Shatner's queue this weekend asked people if they wanted personalisations. Not being prepared for such a question, as he is a notorious for NEVER personalising, I had no photo with me but was not going to miss this rare offer from him, so thought if my name was on the back of the Kirk card pictured, with his auto on the front, I would have the best of both worlds. Afterwhich I wondered if I should have done this with all the TNG cast who I had already got by this point in the day. Nonetheless I am happy with them all as is. To 'console' myself I have a rolled First Contact Quad poster signed by all the crew a few years ago that is personalised (bar Stewart who wasn't personalising at the time!)

Now putting the personalization on the back and the autograph on the front of a trading card is something that I never thought of.

I have always tried to select a card with enough room for the extra line, but sometimes the signer doesn't do the best job of staying in the right spot and you can hardly complain when they are nice enough to add your name. Thanks for the idea X, I think I just might steal it the next time.

I added an autograph to this last month.

I can make out Nichelle Nichols, Dwight Shultz, Karl Urban, Micahel Dorn, Avery Brooks and I think I can see Terry Farrell and John de Lancie? The one on the bottom left corner I have no idea.

What is the item itself Tattoox?

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Originally posted by Raven:
Now putting the personalization on the back and the autograph on the front of a trading card is something that I never thought of.

I have always tried to select a card with enough room for the extra line, but sometimes the signer doesn't do the best job of staying in the right spot and you can hardly complain when they are nice enough to add your name. Thanks for the idea X, I think I just might steal it the next time.

I had never thought of it until yesterday: necessity is the mother of invention and all that. I sure as hell wasn't walking away without a personalisation when he was offering! I couldn't believe at one show I got personalised items from him AND Patrick Stewart (another one notorious for not writing dedications).