yes that is the base set. Remember though it is only half the base set, the other half will be released in series 2.

I'm impressed with the cards , not impressed with the autograph line up though, I wont be collecting many of those this time around.

quote:

Originally posted by WOMBLE:
I'm impressed with the cards , not impressed with the autograph line up though, I wont be collecting many of those this time around.

Any particular reason(s) why? Not trying to be a pain - just trying to decide whether this is a set and/or box to acquire. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by anthonyd:

quote:

Originally posted by WOMBLE:
I'm impressed with the cards , not impressed with the autograph line up though, I wont be collecting many of those this time around.

Any particular reason(s) why? Not trying to be a pain - just trying to decide whether this is a set and/or box to acquire. Thanks.

Well, if you buy sealed boxes, you have to really want all the contents of that sealed box to make it worthwhile, as you must acknowledge most of the value is tied up with the autograph cards. I have a lot of these autographs already (on different design of card) so it is not worthwhile to me in particular.

I will be buying the regular base and chase cards individually from dealers as they are nice and I will be buying the odd autograph card that I don't have as well.

Thanks. I have most of the RA Bond series in sealed boxes...debating on this one.

I'll probably get a base set...decisions, decisions.

Picked up a box today, I guess it just hit as there are no breakdowns yet. I was just sampling the autographs, as I am not a big Bond lover, so I'm sure that effects my opinion.

Anyway, I'm sorry to say that I was not impressed with the base cards or chase cards. Just my view, but I don't like losing almost half the front photo to a gold border and embossed 007 logo. There is a different photo on the back, but that is scaled down to fit 6 or 7 brief lines of text. Many of these photos are from the older movies and are in B/W. There is also a B/W subset chase that is 1 per pack. Then there is a chase that is the exact same base card, but the gold border has a sparkle effect. Not really anything striking to me.

Of course all would have been forgiven if I pulled a great autograph. I did not.

I got "Old Man In Cigar Factory", "Nurse" and "Vijay". They say there are no small actors, only small parts. Well the two full bleed autos are really good looking, as they always are with RA, but these are small parts.

Anyhow I took my shot. Bond fans will like it a lot more than I, I'm sure.

Yeah, I feel your pain. I was bored and got a box for under cost and would have been better off throwing $30 than spending $50 to get maybe $20 in value out of it.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Picked up a box today, I guess it just hit as there are no breakdowns yet.

Maybe you should look harder
http://nonsportupdate.infopop....067078916#8067078916

Not that it was that important, hehe, but I felt the need to inform

I'm a Bond fan and I opened 4 boxes yesterday (the place I order them from is always a week or two behind, I don't know why) and I really like the look of all the cards. Unfortunately, if I had spent the same amount of money on E-bay as I did for the boxes, I would have gotten more value for my dollars. Maybe it's just me, but a box of cards I spend $60 to $70 on should have that value of cards in the box. I could have gotten the same cards on E-bay for half the price, or even less. I think I'm just a little dissapointed because the last dozen or so boxes of various sets I've opened from Rittenhouse have contained nothing as far as high end or even desirable sketch cards. Hopefully, my luck will change soon and every box I open will have an extrenely limited autograph card in it.

quote:

Originally posted by cardaddict:
I'm a Bond fan and I opened 4 boxes yesterday (the place I order them from is always a week or two behind, I don't know why) and I really like the look of all the cards. Unfortunately, if I had spent the same amount of money on E-bay as I did for the boxes, I would have gotten more value for my dollars. Maybe it's just me, but a box of cards I spend $60 to $70 on should have that value of cards in the box. I could have gotten the same cards on E-bay for half the price, or even less. I think I'm just a little dissapointed because the last dozen or so boxes of various sets I've opened from Rittenhouse have contained nothing as far as high end or even desirable sketch cards. Hopefully, my luck will change soon and every box I open will have an extrenely limited autograph card in it.

Thanks for your input. I'm surprised with 3 autos you didn't get something better (what did you get, btw? ). Of course, to put 3 autos per box requires lots of mediocre autos.

I hope this isn't the beginning of a slide in quality from RA...maybe the lesson here is to go with a few random autos spread throughout a box run with a lower box price? I dunno.

Darn, I opened a case now and mixed all the autos tohether, so I don't remember which ones came from where. I did get two Extremely Limited autos in the case (not Brosnan) though, so this time I definitely got my money's worth.

quote:

Originally posted by cardaddict:
Maybe it's just me, but a box of cards I spend $60 to $70 on should have that value of cards in the box.

When you buy a box of cards a percentage of the money you pay is not for cards, it is infact a bet that you will pull something exspensive, most of the time you will lose.

quote:

Originally posted by anthonyd:
to put 3 autos per box requires lots of mediocre autos.

There is no such thing as a mediocre autograph card.
I do realise that you are talking about secondary market values but that is not the cards fault or the person who was good enough to sign it.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:

quote:

Originally posted by anthonyd:
to put 3 autos per box requires lots of mediocre autos.

There is no such thing as a mediocre autograph card.
I do realise that you are talking about secondary market values but that is not the cards fault or the person who was good enough to sign it.

The problem is, with popular franchise releases it is that they need to get the same signers, you only need 1 or 2 autograph cards of the same person. If they only included 1 autograph per box it would be possible to keep the autograph list fresh thus popular. However, we are now spoilt with all the autographs released with sets these days.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:

quote:

Originally posted by cardaddict:
Maybe it's just me, but a box of cards I spend $60 to $70 on should have that value of cards in the box.

When you buy a box of cards a percentage of the money you pay is not for cards, it is infact a bet that you will pull something exspensive, most of the time you will lose.

I agree. Strangely, if there had been no autographed cards in the boxes, you would have got your $60-70 worth of cards out of a box.

Am I the only one a little underwhelmed by this set?

I don't want to be negative whatsoever as it appears that RA have listened to a lot of collector feedback for this set and have certainly shaken up the inserts somewhat.

The base set is nice and large but the gold stock looks a little plain, the parallels looking a little weird with their glitter like finish (not that I am a big fan of parallel sets anyway). The Gold Plaque cards don't do anything for me: not much to look at really.

On the upside, the Gold Gallery cards look nice - essentially a colour version of the old Bond Girls Are Forever subset, but nothing revolutionary. The shadowbox cards look interesting and the case-topper, much like the last one not terribly exciting. When I think we used to get costumes/props/autos as a case topper, a bog standard card isn't much to get excited about.

As for the 108 card Dr. No throwback set... a very impressive idea. Bigger than most base sets nowadays with tonnes of fresh images devoted to one of the very best Bond films. A film that deserves 108 cards!

When considering the autos I must say it seems a little lacklustre. I know it is getting harder and harder to get 'good' names but apart from a couple of cards there is little 'wow' factor. Pierce Brosnan is the star in the lineup, and not going for totally obscene money (for a star of his stature) and for other main characters it is great to see Jill St. John, Toby Stephens, Jeroen Krabbe, Lois Chiles, Carey Lowell and Gotz Otto at long last!

I was surprised to see a full bleed from Patrick Bauchau as well. I distinctly remeber Steve saying RA could not produce this card as they did not have an image of sufficient quality to do a full bleed of his character. So please they found one as I wanted this card mainly for his turn in Columbo!

Even more surprising is how cheap some of these cards are going for, particulary Krabbe and Stephens: two huge characters struggling to hit the $10 barrier. Insane if you ask me! $100+ for a Nadja Regin card seems much harder to stomach.

Nancy Sinatra is a nice little addition, and the title image is an intersting approach to doing a card for a singer, but hey, it is about the signature afterall.

Overall, a list for the diehard fans with some nice cards in there. That said, as a loyal and devoted 40th anniversary collector, I've decided to draw a line under that obsession. It's all getting a bit much and the passion is not really there anymore. I don't really want or care if I have a Peter Fontaine autograph and I'm not paying the asking prices of someone like Regin. I'm just going to stick with actors/characters I like, and I'm pretty much going to go with full bleeds from now on.

Call it burn out, market saturation, whatever. RA make cracking Bond cards but I've come to realise that less is indeed more and I'll get more pleasure from having autos I actually want to own. I find it ironic that the card I have waited the longest for (40th style Pierce Brosnan) is a card I no longer want to buy. I look at the full bleed card he has done and have to aske myself: "what does the 40th style card do that is any better than the full-bleed?" ...and the answer is ultimately: nothing. The full bleeds are nicer looking cards. So for this set all I have bought are the full bleeds for Lois Chiles, Al Matthews, Patrick Bauchau and Ricky Jay plus the promos for the set. But that is it. I may get the Dr. No subset because it is neat and I appreciate RA doing it, but I have enough compilation sets to last me a lifetime. Strange times for this Bond fan!

quote:

Originally posted by X:
Am I the only one a little underwhelmed by this set?

Couldn't have said it better myself. :thumb up:

I took a pass on this one and am buying the singles that I want. Glad I waited for a 40th Style Brosnan, and happy to see some of the signers (Krabbe, Stephens as a 40th style, Jill St. John as a 40th style, and Otto among a few others). Otherwise, I am saving my money for Smallville and Fringe and may pick up a box or two down the road when prices have cooled down a lot.

I love Bond as well, but I think over saturation is really killing my enthusiasm for new sets.

quote:

Originally posted by riddler_149:

I love Bond as well, but I think over saturation is really killing my enthusiasm for new sets.

I'm sure a lot of long time Star Wars and Star Trek collectors have similar feelings. One release a year is fine, but 2 and 3 annually is too much of a good thing.

I have never locked myself into any franchise. I buy autograph cards based on the signer rather than the set and my collection is unfocused, except that I like them. Its also a good way to save money, as the price of the same signature can vary greatly from one product to another.

I would suggest that you guys take a break from Bond and mix it up with new titles until you get your enthusiasm back.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by riddler_149:

I love Bond as well, but I think over saturation is really killing my enthusiasm for new sets.

I'm sure a lot of long time Star Wars and Star Trek collectors have similar feelings. One release a year is fine, but 2 and 3 annually is too much of a good thing.

I have never locked myself into any franchise. I buy autograph cards based on the signer rather than the set and my collection is unfocused, except that I like them. Its also a good way to save money, as the price of the same signature can vary greatly from one product to another.

I would suggest that you guys take a break from Bond and mix it up with new titles until you get your enthusiasm back.

Good advice!

I agree, this set didn't really excite me. Then again, I mostly collect autographs and relics from the Craig era of films. So I can't wait for the inevitable set filled with SkyFall relics.