quote:

Originally posted by X:
What's with the big secret with the signer for set number 3?

I didn't spoil it initially because NSU had the scoop in their 2017 preview issue, but as that was two issues ago- the third set is supposed to feature a Seth Green autograph card.

quote:

Originally posted by CordeliaChase_Fan:

quote:

Originally posted by X:
What's with the big secret with the signer for set number 3?

I didn't spoil it initially because NSU had the scoop in their 2017 preview issue, but as that was two issues ago- the third set is supposed to feature a Seth Green autograph card.

And the way the market is trending, I think that it's a $100 autograph card on it's best day.

I feel like the majority of people that collected Buffy cards have left the hobby and that's one reason why these autos are not keeping their value. 10 years ago the Buffy 10th anniversary set was released and that set got me into collecting and I remember how popular they were back then. I rarely buy cards anymore at all now and I think there are a lot of collectors like me.

Well I have developed a theory about these big autographs from Buffy RA, and it may be a cockeyed theory, but it might deserve a little thought anyway.

The current trading values that I see on all the SMG autographs and the Hannigans are so reasonable that they are too low. The SMG autos should be in the $400 range. Hannigan should not be far behind. The SMG auto/relic should be valued higher than the Series 1 straight SMG signature. There are only a couple of hundred copies of any of the autograph cards. Even though its been 20 years from the beginning, old Buffy card collectors should number in the thousands. So why are these autograph cards this low and still barely moving?

My theory is that it's because there is no contrast. There is no sense that these are big cards, or short cards or hot cards because they are the only cards. There are no common autographs to pull. There are no mid-range autograph cards to pull. There are no Ls, or Vls or Els to pull. You just pay your money, $400 or discounted from $400, and you get your tiny set with only the one card that you really wanted.

But its not exciting because you know you are supposed to get one of the big autographs. Maybe you just don't know exactly which one. Yet that big autograph has lost its wow factor because you are paying for it from the beginning. Its not like you pulled a big autograph that you could never afford from a $70 box. You can afford it and you have paid for it already. You don't feel like you won something, just that you bought something.

That is what I think this particular format and the lack of an actual card set with other premium hits has taken away from these big cards. That is why collectors not wrapped up in the initial release are still sitting around and waiting for an even lower price. These autograph cards have hit true value, or what should be true value, but it doesn't seem like it to collectors because there are no small cards to compare them to.

At least that's my impression and I agree that it does not bode well for the next series. Not because the cards are not worth it, but because the current market makes it look like they are not worth.

Full disclosure, I just picked up the SMG auto/relic card from a friendly guy who hangs around here and I am very happy with the card.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
The current trading values that I see on all the SMG autographs and the Hannigans are so reasonable that they are too low. The SMG autos should be in the $400 range. Hannigan should not be far behind. The SMG auto/relic should be valued higher than the Series 1 straight SMG signature. There are only a couple of hundred copies of any of the autograph cards. Even though its been 20 years from the beginning, old Buffy card collectors should number in the thousands. So why are these autograph cards this low and still barely moving?
.

Whilst there were probably thousands of Buffy card collectors when the show was on TV, most have now moved on. Plus, most Buffy fans would consider these cards to be way overpriced.

quote:

Originally posted by WOMBLE:
Whilst there were probably thousands of Buffy card collectors when the show was on TV, most have now moved on. Plus, most Buffy fans would consider these cards to be way overpriced.

They were overpriced by RA from the start because they were available in larger numbers than the big cards in other titles, but do you consider them overpriced now?

Take a look at some of the BINs that are left lingering. Some are less than half of that $400 "set" order. Nearly all of the set purchases were discounted by the dealers immediately anyway. Dealers were making up for the shortfall and still getting good profit by selling the incentive sketch. Without the sketch money the whole product would have been in trouble.

With the second series, it looks like sketch activity has slowed downed and they are not being gobbled up as fast or for as much. That just makes the $400 SRP even more overpriced.

But how much can you expect an SMG or Hannigan autograph to drop when its on a licensed Buffy card that is at least somewhat limited and had a high SRP to begin with? I would argue that we now are seeing asking BINs that have at least a chance of rising up. The supply is not shorted, but it's not overwhelming either.

I agree the demand has been reduced, but these are the iconic signatures on licensed cards that Buffy fans wanted for years. At some point, and I predict its going to be soon, you are going to see a lot fewer of the SMGs of Series 1 and 2 because collectors are going to pull the trigger when they find their price.

quote:

Originally posted by Sidewinder:
I feel like the majority of people that collected Buffy cards have left the hobby and that's one reason why these autos are not keeping their value. 10 years ago the Buffy 10th anniversary set was released and that set got me into collecting and I remember how popular they were back then. I rarely buy cards anymore at all now and I think there are a lot of collectors like me.

+1. What ^ said.

Two new sketches have turned up...

quote:

Originally posted by Sidewinder:
I feel like the majority of people that collected Buffy cards have left the hobby and that's one reason why these autos are not keeping their value. 10 years ago the Buffy 10th anniversary set was released and that set got me into collecting and I remember how popular they were back then. I rarely buy cards anymore at all now and I think there are a lot of collectors like me.

I agree with you...

I have lightened my load of collectibles over the past years.

I do not purchase/collect as much as I used to...

But, I still collect Sarah Michelle Gellar cards/items.

I didn't even realize that SMG signed for the new Allen & Ginter set. Her autos are selling for $300+ too which is more than what her Buffy autographs are currently bringing in. Someone explain that one to me. It is a nice looking card though.

I can't really explain it to you because there are no rules in this hobby. Collectors make stuff up to try to impose some logic to the reason why some cards are worth/sell for so much, while other cards are worth/sell for so little.

Truth be told, logic in card collecting is abandoned all the time. The exact same situations can produce opposite results. That this SMG autograph card should be selling for more than her licensed Buffy card does not seem right at all. I would rather have her signature matched with her iconic role and that is what logic would dictate. Now here's a few reasons why it may not be that simple to call.

Allen & Ginter is a name familiar to sports card collectors. The hobby boxes are higher end at around $130 each. This product is going to be broken mainly by sports card collectors and they are used to paying big money for premium hits.

The SMG autograph seems to be pretty limited. I'm reading about stamped to #25. I don't know if that black framed card is her only autograph in the set, but if the total number is 25, that is way short of the 200 or so copies produced for each of her Buffy cards.

So if the demand is more, because you certainly have a greater pool of sports card buyers, and the supply is significantly less, that might translate to a higher price for people who collect A&G.

Now here's why I would certainly prefer the Buffy autographs.

She doesn't look like Buffy. I think the A&G card does have a nice rendering, but its not for SMG. She looks blonder and should maybe be at the beach.

She signed with her newer version of Sarah Michelle, dropping the Gellar. That's an improvement over the SMG initials she tried out, but not a full signature. Her Buffy cards have so far had her complete signature.

This is a generic card. It just says actress without mentioning Buffy. That Buffy license is worth something and in most cases, an autograph of anyone in a licensed set in character is always worth more than that autograph in a hodge-podge set with no direct connection to a title.

So that's the pros and cons of it that I can think of right now. If anything I hope that these autograph cards will give non-sport card collectors the idea that her Buffy autographs are a bargain at the reduced prices available now.

I've watched a few case openings of the 17 Ginter on YouTube. I don't recall anyone pulling a base card of her ?

This Allen and Ginter is an odd set, mainly baseball,like a thousand cards to collect, you can get fictional character relic like Santa Claus and the Easter bunny and my favourites are the dude mini cards where you can get the likes of Scottish dude, Park Avenue dude and Algerian Lawyer Dude.

I like the Allen and Ginter sets, along with the Goodwin Champions as well, as you get some pretty oddball characters out of it!

I would be very happy to pull SMG's auto from a pack of A & G. If there's an auto, there is probably a base card of her as well. This looks like a recent photo of her, is the card promoting her success with her Foodstuffs business?

quote:

Originally posted by Don Norton:
I would be very happy to pull SMG's auto from a pack of A & G. If there's an auto, there is probably a base card of her as well. This looks like a recent photo of her, is the card promoting her success with her Foodstuffs business?

I haven't seen a base card but there is an unnumbered auto... one auto numbered to 25... one auto numbered to 10 in red ink

That could be part of it but I also think the lack of a Buffy movie or a new show (same actors or reboot) works against card values. Then, there is also the economy. The stock market has rebounded and has been setting records for years now but people are still getting laid off here and there and various stores keep closing. Some people have sold parts or all of their collections since 2007. When you have people who used to buy becoming dealers, you have more stuff back in the market, even the rare items, but less people interested.

Getting back to the lack of a new movie. Look at Star Wars. Two new movies have come out in the past two years with another one in a few months. People who started buying those card sets have also gotten interested in the older stuff. I try to keep general track of values of promo cards (as part of the PCE update thread in "General Promo Talk" and have noticed that Star Wars promos have largely held their values even during the recession. While a card that went for $5 ten years ago might be more of a $3-5 card, it did not drop to $1. Buffy promos have dropped in value in general. I saw one of the case incentives go for $2. I'd have to check but I think only the B5-2 embossed card has held its 2008 value among the various hard-to-get Inkworks promos.

I should add that another part of the reason Buffy card values in general are so low is that when Inkworks went out of business, a lot of stuff that would have remained in storage or been destroyed or filtered onto the market over time became available in relative bulk. That hurts values especially when there are few new buyers eating into the surplus. That was years ago but collectors may still harbor the idea that they can pick up what they want and quite cheaply.

quote:

Originally posted by Sidewinder:
I feel like the majority of people that collected Buffy cards have left the hobby and that's one reason why these autos are not keeping their value. 10 years ago the Buffy 10th anniversary set was released and that set got me into collecting and I remember how popular they were back then. I rarely buy cards anymore at all now and I think there are a lot of collectors like me.

I just spotted these beauties hiding on David Desbois' DeviantArt page. According to his descriptions they are all from Buffy Collector Set 2...







...and this Cordelia which somehow was not approved ...

still have a few more to post (4-5 I think). There is a few I'm unsure if it's really series 1 or 2 due to the fact that they kept a few from s1 back then, but I think that's accurate. Long live Buffy!

quote:

Originally posted by DavidDeb:
still have a few more to post (4-5 I think). There is a few I'm unsure if it's really series 1 or 2 due to the fact that they kept a few from s1 back then, but I think that's accurate. Long live Buffy!

Awesome work David as usual. Can you say whether or not you did any sketches for the upcoming Buffy Ultimate Collector Set 3? Or if any of your previously completed sketches might have been held back for it? Thanks.

well, I didn't inquire about set 3 and I don't know if there is sketches or not, but in any case, I think I have covered the subject with around 50 cards in my DA gallery. I'm not interested in doing more.