Leaf Revived By Razor (Sort Of)

Credit heads-up to Beckett.

Today at the National, Razor Entertainment head Brian Gray announced that he was bringing back the Leaf brand, which had been last controlled by Playoff/Donruss/Panini.

According to the newly launched Leaf website, Razor is not becoming Leaf. They're still separate companies. They just happen to be run by the same person (Gray) and several of Razor's previously announced sets have been "acquired" by Leaf to be re-branded. All the jargon is sort of confusing, but it boils down to this:

Razor was set to release Razor MMA in the not-too-distant future. Now it'll be released as Leaf MMA.

Also announced was that Leaf has a two-year agreement with Muhammad Ali Enterprises to create sets based on the legendary boxer and pop culture icon. Collectors can expect the first set either late this early or in early 2011.

Has Razor Topped the Castro Autograph?

Somewhere out there is a Fidel Castro cut signature card from Topps that was defaced and has gone on to become something of a piece of hobby art. Apparently the guy who got it didn't bleed Commie red and proceeded to doodle all over the card. If Castro's controversial, I wonder what some will think of a dual autograph Razor has coming in their upcoming 2010 Cut Signature Edition.

It's a Gulf War grand-daddy: George Bush (Sr) and Saddam Hussein. This wasn't the only card that stuck out on the sell sheet. I'm immediately drawn to the name of my all-time hero, Jim Henson, whom I was surprised to see as a marquee name. Perhaps Razor owner Brian Gray is a huge Muppets fan like myself.

The sell sheet curiously lists the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi and Mark Twain in the same breath as Taylor Swift, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt.

Like previous Razor Cut Signature releases and the recent Upper Deck Prominent Cuts, it's a mixed bag with some added intrigue.

Exclusive First Look Razor Pop Century Annie Duke Preview Autograph

Here's an exclusive first peek at the Razor Pop Century Preview Annie Duke autograph I mentioned yesterday.

The card will be inserted randomly in the upcoming Razor Poker 2010, which is slated for an April 21 release. According to Razor, 150 to 175 of the Duke Preview autographs will be available, which will translate into about one in every other case.

If you're not familiar with Duke, she's one of the top female poker players in the world. I know her as the runner-up during the last round of Celebrity Apprentice, where she lost to Joan Rivers.

Razor Previews Pop Century in 2010 Razor Ink

Let the B-list celebrities keep on coming. Razor included a pair of preview autographs for their upcoming Razor Pop Century set in boxes of the recently released repackage 2010 Razor Vault. Don't expect a lot of accolades for either of the featured "celebrities" on the preview cards but being a fan of faux-stars I have to say Razor's dug deep.

 First up is Audrina Patridge of The Hills. I'm ashamed to say I watched the first season of the sort-of reality show about a bunch a whiny rich kids in the city. I feel a little gag reflex in my mouth just admitting that.

Next is a classic. Chris Reid, better known as the flat-top 'Kid' half of the cheesy rap duo Kid 'n Play. Dang. Now that's reaching back. Most will remember Kid from the epic House Party trilogy, but I bet few remember the Kid 'n Play Saturday morning cartoon.

According to Brian Gray of Razor, a third preview card for Pop Century will be released with 2010 Razor Poker. This card will feature Annie Duke. He said Pop Century was set for an August release with further details available in the coming weeks.

Complete Upper Deck Prominent Cuts Checklist

Upper Deck Prominent Cuts Checklist (Google Docs)

If you've been browsing autographs on eBay this week you've probably noticed tons of cut signatures from Upper Deck's new Prominent Cuts set. Thanks to Upper Deck for forwarding on the checklist to me, which is massive. As in nearly 900 cut signature subjects.

The set is pricey, running about $200 per box. Add to that the largely hit-and-miss cut signature subjects, one of which is guaranteed in a box, and it's a risk I'm not sure I'd consider. While there is a lot of big hits on the checklist, some of the names among the cut signatures are really horrible. Take Bai Ling for example. Her Donruss Americana autograph (which includes her picture) can be found for around $10. And that's the hit in a $200 box? I hear the banjo tuning up in the background to a familiar chorus. I've also got huge issues with cut signatures on cards of folks who are still very much alive. Bai Ling fits that category as well.

After browsing through the set, Prominent Cuts is a confused product. The eclectic base set checklist of politicians, actors and athletes, and plentiful movie costume cards give it a definite Donruss Americana feel. The gazillion cut signatures inserted at reasonable rates compares to Razor's cut signature products. The MMA toss-ins are another Donruss Americana nod, as well as a spin on Topps' UFC products. Does that mean Prominent Cuts' personality is made up from the shadows of others?

At any rate, if you're looking for the checklist, I've put it into a Google Docs spreadsheet and organized it in a way that's useful for me. I'm not super familiar with spreadsheet creation so I'm coming at it from an angle that's aimed at finding things in an organized fashion, hence the multiple sheets to keep the various aspects separate.

Please comment if you find checklists like this useful (even if Prominent Cuts isn't your thing). I've been preparing some on my own using pre-existing sheets that I have a tough time navigating through. If it's helpful I'd be happy to share what I've got and maybe be a little more motivated to put together others in the future.

The Inkworks Well Finally Appears to Be Running Dry

More than a year after going out of business, it looks like the flood of excess autographs might finally be on the horizon. But not until Razor releases one more set chalk full of them.

2010 Razor Ink Vault will be the company's final set that focuses on Inkworks autographs. Boxes will contain four random autographs plus an unopened non-sport box. This is up one autograph per box from the first Ink Vault release.

Last year's Razor Ink Vault was my favorite product to bust. Packed with value, even when you don't get a major name, the surprise factor and the breaking of a surprise box was a lot of fun. At $50-60 it was like paying around the original cost of the box (now deflated because most were closeouts of Inkworks leftovers) but with an additional trio of autographs.

This time around the price doesn't rise but you get one more autograph at the same price.

I do have a hunch that autographs from Inkworks' final release, The Spirt, could play somewhat prominently as it was put out just before the company went under and all were redemptions. This would likely mean that there's loads of leftovers as the expiration date was not at all flexible. Add to that that the set was a massive disappointment sales-wise (largely because the movie sucked so much rather the the product, which is actually an excellent set). At least if this is the case, the autograph lineup for The Spirit isn't that bad as it includes Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie King, Paz Vega and Dan Lauria, the dad from The Wonder Years.

With the first Ink Vault and Razor Ink Archives, Razor has already flooded the non-sport market with Inkworks autographs. This has had both pros and cons. Personally, I've been able to snag lots of autographs that were out of my price range before. But for dealers who saw some prices drop more than half, I can certainly see them being a little saddened by this.

I don't fault Razor for the market flood as they weren't the ones who produced the cards in the first place. They also didn't hold such a significant amount of autographs back.  These cards were always around. So whether they hit the market all at once or the trickled out as they had before, the idea of rarity was completely manufactured. Razor has stated that this is their final "Ink" release. If they bought a big chunk of Inkworks' leftover autographs then at least now people won't have to speculate how much more is sitting out there and the market can once again balance itself out.

2010 Razor Ink Vault Sell Sheet

Box Break: Razor Ink Vault (Part 2) or Box Break: The Seeker: The Dark is Rising

To succeed in business you need to look ahead and take risks. With the success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, it led to a bunch of classic fantasy series getting adapted for the screen. Inkworks followed suit, licensing sets for several of these properties. My guess is it was a matter of throwing against the wall and seeing which ones stuck. Unfortunately it was too late once Twilight hit. With the likes of the under-performing The Golden Compass and The Seeker: The Dark is Rising causing Inkworks to take big hits, the non-sport manufacturer eventually went under. And while I'm sure they did the best they could given their own limitations, The Seeker is but a one-card chase for me.

I'm a big fan of the HBO series Deadwood. And on Deadwood Ian McShane is my favorite aspect. So when I saw that he was signing for The Seeker, I knew there was one card I really wanted to have. Unfortunately for Inkworks, one card doesn't make many sets popular.

The set is based on the theatrical adaptation of Susan Cooper's novel. Despite a solid cast of cable stars like McShane, Six Feet Under's matriarch Frances Conroy and Doctor Who's Christopher Eccleston, the movie was a muddled mess to watch and a bomb at the box office. Predictably, the set was a dud as well.

The base set consists of 72 cards broken down into several confusing subsets. Outside of your standard profile and storyline subsets, there's a bunch at the front of the set that lay out the film's mythology. The checklist choice makes it all somewhat confusing as the story part normally lays out the plot so that the various subsets that go a little more in depth at least have some context.

One thing the subsets do achieve is showcase many different sorts of card designs, some of which are gorgeous and others are plain ugly. My favorite cards in the set are those of the Agents of the Light profiles. They mix striking images with a light-colored background and a simple yet affective text bar at the bottom. These are in contrast to the horrible looking story cards that waste a ton of space on two sets of borders. This leaves little room for the picture itself. With these cards all my eyes see are the wasted space.

The chase aspect of the set is highlighted by one autograph and one Pieceworks costume card per box. Although this wasn't formally announced, I haven't seen any breaks that didn't follow this pattern. The autograph design is typical Inkworks: horizontal layout with plenty of room for the signature. My autograph was of Gary Entin as Paul Stanton. I haven't heard of him. His filmography thus far isn't exactly spectacular either. Among his film credits are Rest Stop, Color Me Olsen, Whore and Rest Stop: Don't Look Back.

My favorite cards in the set are the Pieceworks. Although I don't chase after too many costume cards, the ethereal design of these cards standout amongst an otherwise bland set. I pulled a swatch of a jacket worn by Frances Conroy as Miss Graythorne. 

The Seeker follows the Inkworks insert formula to a tee. Signs of Light is your nine-card foil puzzle. Eternal Enemies is the slightly tougher to pull six-card set and Hidden Symbols is the one-per-box set. While I don't mind consistency, Inkworks followed the same pattern for a decade with almost every release. Occasional exceptions existed but they're not the norm. I can't tell you how many times I've busted a box of Inkworks products and gotten a puzzle piece of someone's arm, or in this box, half of someone's hair. The puzzles look good completed but I'm rarely motivated to do so with the underwhelming assortment I generally start out with. I received the predictable amount of predictable inserts. In fact, I beat the odds slightly and got two Eternal Enemies cards instead of the expected one. 

The Seeker is one of those sets hobby history can use to illustrate the company's demise. It's a set that required a risk to even be made. But in the end it followed the same predictable pattern as many of Inkworks' other releases. While there is little Inkworks could have done to make the set a hit based on the poor performance of the film, perhaps a little shakeup in the construction of the set might have brought a few more collectors into the mix. This is a boring set that, for me, was all about chasing a single card.

Inserts

• Autographs:1 (A-GE. Gary Entin as Paul Stanton)
• Pieceworks Costume Cards: 1 (PW5. Jacket worn by Frances Conroy as Miss Greythorne)
• Eternal Enemies (1:17): 2 (E3, E4)
• Hidden Symbols (1:23): 1 (H1)
• Signs of Light (1:11): 2 (S7, S8)

 To see further breakdown stats and more images, click here.

The Fallout of Inkworks' Vault Being Pillaged

If you're a non-sport collector, particularly autographs, you've probably noticed the chaos in the prices for almost every Inkworks card. When the company went under in the spring, Razor and a couple of other groups bought out their leftover stock and have been releasing it to the masses en mass.

Razor's approach has been to pack out the cards in two different releases: Ink Archives, which gave collectors one autograph per pack and Ink Vault, which offered three autographs and a sealed box (almost always from Inkworks). Ink Archives put almost 20,000 autographs into the marketplace while Ink Vault's 499 cases has resulted in another 29,940 Inkworks autographs (plus whatever's in the boxes) hitting a somewhat small corner of the hobby. That's almost 50,000 autographs that have already been released going into circulation in a matter of months. The result has been a flooded market, which is both good and bad.

From a collecting perspective, it's been great. In just the past two weeks I've received three cards that were always priced higher than I could afford until now. The first was a Robert "Freddy Kreuger" Englund card from a Charmed series. A few months ago it sold consistently for about $50-60. I was able to trigger a 'Buy It Now' for $30.

Next up was an autograph from an underappreciated movie, Hellboy. Lead actor Ron Perlman isn't a huge Hollywood star but the guy has had some memorable roles over the years, most recently in the awesome FX series Sons of Anarchy. In Hellboy he plays the main character. Before Inkworks went under: $50. I got it for half.

My final find was a bit of luck. It was a 'Buy It Now' that was just posted when I came across it. This one comes from the Hellboy set once again. It's of director Guillermo Del Toro who has since rocketed to fame with Pan's Labyrinth and is pegged to tackle The Hobbit if it ever gets going. Not long ago, this card sold for $100-200. This one was just $40. I did luck into an all-time low for the card I think though, as ensuing copies have crept back up into the $80-100 range. A once tough card, Ink Vault seems to be bringing a steady stream of them now.

The fact that the market being flooded with Inkworks autographs isn't the only reason prices are so soft. It also has to do with who's selling the cards. Razor's clients are mostly sports card dealers. In my experiences with both sides of the hobby, non-sport dealers are much more patient as a whole when it comes to holding onto their inventory. It's been more stable than the performance-driven sports side. As a result sports dealers look at moving their inventory as quickly as possible, which often results in undercutting the competition. Plus, if you're bread and butter normally revolves around names like Albert Pujols, Michael Jordan and Lebron James, you might not recognize the value in the director of a moderately successful film.

A lot of the cards I've been picking up have been coming from dealers who carry a lot of sports cards, which makes me believe that's their primary area of focus. Even at the deflated prices, Ink Vault is offering everyone tremendous value and a pretty easy way to make a few dollars. That is for everyone except those non-sport dealers who have been with the hobby for the long haul and have seen the value of their inventory shrink with each ensuing week.

It's in situations like these where I'm glad I'm not a dealer. I know I'd have a tough time marking a once $200 card that I pulled from a $60 box of cards down to $50 just so I can move it. Even moving $10 cards down to $5 is tough when margins weren't great even when the hobby was rolling at full steam. If sports collectors are worried about the number of dealers in their neck of the woods, non-sport collectors should be petrified. When times were good there were only a handful of dealers to pick from. I suspect the fallout from Inkworks' closing is going to make that handful even smaller when you consider the double-whammy of fewer products being released and the severely lowered value coming from almost 50,000 autographs coming into the hobby all at once.

Box Break: Razor Ink Vault (Part 1)

The demise of Inkworks has meant deals (or softer prices, depending on how you look at it) for collectors as their excess stock hits the market. A couple of dealers on eBay have a lot of the stock as well as Razor, who bought up a bunch of autographs and, guessing from their Ink Vault release, a lot of unopened material as well.

Ink Vault marks Razor's second release heavily featuring Inkworks autographs. The first, Ink Archives, offered collectors one random autograph per pack in an encapsulated holder. As tempting as it was, I stayed away largely because of the $15-20 price tag per pack and some uncertainty over the level of autographs found inside, especially after it was discovered a partner of Razor's was selling singles of some of the best cards Inkworks made over the years.

Ink Archives went over well and Razor upped the ante with Ink Vault, which offers a box-within-a-box gimmick. First off, each sealed box contains three random Inkworks autographs placed in a top loader with a Razor seal. The box also contains an unopened non-sport box, most likely of which will contain further "hits." At first I figured this would be a way to get rid of a lot of junk and even at $50 per box, it would be something of a letdown.

But then I started looking at the breaks. The boxes, which I figured would be mostly old Inkworks retail boxes like Tomb Raider and Godzilla turned out to be fairly solid. Razor also emphasized that not all of the boxes were from Inkworks. I've seen others such as Batman Archives from Rittenhouse and Star Wars and Indiana Jones boxes from Topps.

As for the autographs, the breaks seemed to be yielding better results than Ink Archives. Of the three autographs, there appeared to be at least one that I wouldn't lump in as a "common." Combine the good liklihood of a solid box and at least one autograph worth getting excited about and I decided to give a box a try.

Here's what I landed:

First the autographs:

Alien vs. Predator

A6. Ian Whyte as Scar (the Predator)

This is a set I've been planning on tackling. I love the Alien series (although I do not acknowledge the existance of Alien Resurrection) and there's not a lot of pricey cards in the set. I'm very pleased with this one.

Small Soldiers

S4. Stan Winston

Outside of Ray Harryhausen, Winston was probably one of the best known special effects artists in history. He sadly passed away in June, 2008. I already had a Winston autograph from Terminator 3 but I like this one much better. Plus I already have the Kirsten Dunst from the set so I might have to track down the couple of others that I'm missing one day.

 

 Smallville: Season Three

A17. Camille Mitchell as Sheriff Nancy Adams

I made it through half a season of Smallville and couldn't take any more. Of the three autographs in the box, this one definitely goes onto the trade list if anybody is interested. 

With those three autographs, I'd be fairly happy. But there's still the box inside the box. So no matter what it is, I consider it a bonus in this case. And it's a good thing too because here's my box:

 The Seeker: The Dark is Rising

There is one card in this set that I want but the rest I would love to avoid as much as possible. The box does promise an additional autograph (no redemptions here) and a Pieceworks costume card.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my Razor Ink Vault box break. 

Box Break: 2009 Razor Sports Icons: Cut Signature Edition

Let's do it.

Here's the box (which was provided by Razor):

Inside there's one card - a cut signature. It could be Babe Ruth or it could be Al Barlick. The checklist covers all the major sports, not just baseball. I still haven't figured out why Ringo Starr or Ozzy Osbourne are in a product called Sports Icons, though. This is a product where even when you don't pull a big-time player, you're still going to get something solid. As in no late-round draft picks who came up, played a game or two then disappear into the abyss of the dugout bench.

The set appears to be popular from a busting standpoint as well. eBay has little unopened product left and what's there is being listed for about $125 per box.

Here goes.

Jim Plunkett limited to two copies.

Jim Plunkett isn't a baseball player so I'm off to Google for a second. Pardon me if Plunkett is an all-time all-time great and I just commited blasphemy for not immediately knowing who he is.

From Wikipedia:

James W. "Jim" Plunkett (born December 5, 1947 in San Jose, California) is a former American football quarterback who played collegiately for Stanford University, where he won the Heisman Trophy, and professionally for three National Football League teams: the New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers and Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. He led the Raiders to two Super Bowl victories (XV and XVIII). He is the only retired quarterback to start, and win, two Super Bowls who is not also in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Not a bad football player, I guess. But he's no Babe Ruth either.

From a busting perspective, there's two conflicting thoughts here. My first is, "Jim Plunkett - dang." But on the otherhand, it is limited to a pair of copies. Yes, it's manufactured rarity but I'm sure there's more than a couple of people out there who would find trade value in such a card. To that end, Razor's done a good job of ensuring value in Sports Icons. Although I could have done better with the player, it's still far better than busting a similarly priced box like SPx and getting a rookie I've never heard of and only a handful of shiny cards to go with it.

Design wise, Razor continues to do clever things without any sort of license. There's no picture of the athlete anywhere. In fact, they're name isn't anywhere on the card itself other than the signature. It's Beckett who identifies who it is and the rarity.

The design is very clean. There's a patriotic feel with the color scheme and stars. It's not too cluttered, in my opinion. It's a little disappointing to see the Sports Icons logo so large and the signature window not much bigger, especially when a couple of loops in Plunkett's names are slightly cut off.

With all the possibilites this box offered, it was a fun break. Granted it wasn't my money that was on the line here thanks to Razor providing it, but I imagine if I'd spent the money on this rather than most any new product not named Allen and Ginter I'd feel a bit better about how I'd spent my c-note and change.

Razor Hosts Lisa Gleave at the National

The Razor booth will be hosting an autograph signing with Let's Make a Deal's Lisa Gleave at this year's National in Cleveland. She'll be signing four different Bench Warmer redemption cards including one that Razor says will be "the CRAZIEST Bench Warmer redemption card ever!!"

The autographs will be via redemption and available all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Collectors will get one of three redemptions at the Razor booth by opening up either a box of pre-2008 Bench Warmer product or 10-plus packs of Bench Warmer cards from 2008 or 2009. Once you've got all three redemptions you get the fourth, an in-person autographed Kiss card where Gleave will sign and plant a smacker on the card right before your very eyes. Talk about creating cardboard jealousy.

For more information on the National, click here.

In Case You Were Wondering What Happened to the Rest of Inkworks' Stock

Since non-sport manufacturer Inkworks closed up shop a few months ago, much has been speculated about their remaining inventory. There was a noticeable upturn in the number of eBay listings, particularly from a couple of sellers. Then there was Razor's grab bag release Ink Archives that had one random Inkworks autograph per pack.

Factory Entertainment has now launched InkworksArchives.com, which should answer a lot of questions about the leftovers, particularly autographs, Pieceworks costume cards and sketch cards. There's also a lot of promo cards and uncut press sheets, which were an Inkworks staple.

I've only done a quick browse through what's available but it should give an indication as to what there was lots leftover on. For example, there's lots of Golden Compass cards, but very little for either of the Alien vs. Predator set. Of course, this could change if more items are listed on the site, but it's a good first look.

I Broke Down and Bought My First Razor Cut Signature Card

After swearing I'd not buy a Razor cut signature card, I ended up going and doing just that when I spent $25 (about 25% of the original pack price) on a single from a legendary actor/director from 2008 Razor Cut Signature: Encore Edition.

The card in question:

 

That'd be Warren Beatty, star of this

this

  this

 

and this

The card features a check for $12 and change from 1975 with a clean and full signature. I love Bonnie and Clyde and Bugsy and look up to Beatty for being a part of the anti-establishment film movement that revitalized Hollywood in the late 60s and early 70s. To that end I've wanted his autograph for a while. At $25 and little question about the authenticity given its being a check and I thought this was quite a little bargain, even if it was from a product I didn't want any part of.

Looking at the card and it's easy to see how Razor gets around licensing. Not only is Beatty's picture not on the card, there's not even any mention of the name. That's saved for the Beckett holder that jails the card, not allowing anyone to even handle it.

So while it's not my first choice for autographs, this is an exception I don't at all mind making if it means I can have an affordable Beatty autograph in my collection.

Actual Images (not mock-ups) for Razor's 2009 Sports Icons Cut Signature set

Here's a handful of images sent over by Razor showing some actual examples from their upcoming 2009 Sports Icons set featuring cut signatures from past and present sports stars. I have to say, that while the design is nice, I do find it strange that we're cutting cut sigs of living guys who have plenty of autographs out there (ie Gretzky and Shaq).

(Click on the image for a larger view.)

Update: I just received confirmation that the maximum print run of any one card will be 49 copies.

Update Redux: Brian Gray sent me an email to let me know that the cuts pictured weren't "cut" per se, but produced originally to be placed on statues. So I guess that means they're not cuts, but cuts at the same time then.

Is Inkworks More Valuable Dead Than Alive?

It's been a few weeks now since non-sport manufacturer Inkworks announced they were "ceasing regular operations." Stopping short of going out of business, right now they're not in the card-making business as of right now.

The amount of attention the company's demise garnered got me wondering if they've become like a great artist becoming more well known in death than when they were around. A lot of this pondering stems from Razor announcing they'd bought a lot of Inkworks' autograph leftovers and are releasing about 18,000 of them in a grab-bag product entitled Ink Archives. What this did was show the sports market what non-sport collectors have known for a decade: there's plenty of variety of autographs available at reasonable prices - at least unless you're a hot actress like Angelina Jolie. Razor's market is traditionally the sports crowd so with their marketing efforts, Ink Archives immediately became a crossover release that caters to both the sports and the non-sport niches. By crossing over, the Inkworks name has now been exposed to more collectors and, I'd argue, is more recognizable to the card-collecting public.

Then there was the controversy uncovered a couple weeks after the solicitations for Ink Archives where a company owned by Razor owner Brian Gray was selling several Inkworks autographs via eBay. True or not, this revelation led to much speculation over whether or not Ink Archives was as random as advertised or if most of the "hot" autographs had been cherry picked to be sold separately. Gray responded swiftly by pulling all of the auctions and said that those listed had never been part of the consideration for Ink Archives. Throughout all these stories and allegations, the Inkworks name is being tossed around more, which should make their name and products even more recognizable.

So what if Inkworks were able to make a hobby comeback later this year, next year or some point down the road? Will they have a bigger fanbase because of the attention they've gotten since they stopped making cards?

Coming Soon: 17,940 Inkworks Autographs

Beckett is reporting today that Razor bought Inkworks' autograph remaining overstock and is releasing them as a repackaged set entitled Ink Archives. There'll be five packs per box with one autograph in every pack. Cases consist of 12 boxes and 299 cases will make up the print run. The sell sheet says there'll be more than 400 different cards.

So let's do a little math, shall we.

5 packs x 12 boxes x 299 cases = 17,940 autographs hitting the market all at the same time. Eek. And when I say all at the same time, I mean it. A dealer on Non-Sport Update's Card Talk says that Razor is already sold out.

It's definitely looking like it's going to be a buyer's market. From the sounds of things, expect packs to run $20. In all honesty, you're still going to be better off getting singles off of eBay. While there's going to be some of the nice cards that are shown on the sell sheet, which is very Three's Company in that it has John Ritter surrounded by beautiful ladies (and Ozzy Osbourne), there's also going to be a lot of supporting actors in these packs. Plus, with the quick influx of autographs hitting the market all at the same time, their prices should also soften, thus making some deals to be had. It won't take many $20 packs to make up the cost of simply going out and getting that $200 Jennifer Garner or $120 Ozzy.

To further add to the market glut, the Razor aquisition appears to only be the remaining Inkworks stock. Other dealers have also acquired stock from Inkworks as well.

From a hobby standpoint, there's some possible implications that could impact things beyond a flooded autograph market. Razor competes at the much larger sports crowd as compared to the more niche-oriented non-sport market. By putting these cards in the hands of sports collectors it could show a small sample of what it's like on the other end of the hobby where things are still relatively low-key and simple. That, in turn, could end up bringing an influx of new collectors over and helping the hurting market out. So that could be a small piece of good news to come from one business closing their doors and their extra stock flooding a potentially fragile market.

Razor's Cut Signature Mistakes Didn't Start With the Presidents

It's been a few days since word broke that there have been questionable signatures in Razor's Cut Signatures: Oval Office Edition set. Autograph Alert has also provided an update to the story where Razor owner Brian Gray states that he's willing to go to great measures to ensure that things are made good.

But this isn't the first time the authenticity of Razor's cut signatures have come into question. Back around the release of the company's first entertainment release 2008 Cut Signature Edition. A user on Non-Sport Update's Card Talk message board brought to light a potentially fake Carrie Fisher (aka Princess Leia from Star Wars) that was in fact signed by her mother, Debbie Reynolds. You can read the thread here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Here's the image of the card with the questionable autograph:

And here's a signed photo that Carrie Fisher herself points out the fake signature, which the photo was originally signed with:

Wouldn't you know that the non-sport realm is a pretty tight-knit group and the owner of the Fisher card happened to be reading the thread. So was Razor's Gray. Gray promised to make good and the card's owner, Tom Wright of The Wright Stuff Collectibles took him up on the offer. I contacted Wright and he said that he and Gray agreed two packs of the more than $100-per-pack product was a reasonable replacement. Wright said that he pulled both a Richard Gere 1-of-1 and a President George Bush Sr. from his packs. So it's good to see that Razor does have a track record of following through on this questionable signatures.

That said, when you're charging as much as Razor is for these ultra high-end cards, extra steps for authentication need to be taken. Gray needs to increase the transparency of the sources of the autographs. I, for one, will not even consider buying any of these sets (either in pack form or on the secondary market) until the authenication process is noted on the card itself. A "Razor guarantee" has now been proven potentially wrong on more than one occasion.

So on the one hand, kudos to Brian Gray for making good. But really, should these mistakes have happened in the first place?

Razor Cut Signature Series Checklist

In case you're curious, the checklist for Razor's Cut Signature Series has been released. See it here.

The set consists of only cut signature cards of pop culture figures past and present. Interestingly you won't find the card subject's name on the card or their picture, however the Beckett slabs they come in list the name in case you can't read the signature. This presumably enables Razor to produce such a set without expensive licenses.

I'm not sure what I think of the set as many of the signatures are from people who are not only alive, but appear in other sets. Some of those cards are being used to create the Razor cards. For example, an American Idol card from Fleer was trimmed and placed onto a Razor card. Not very attractive, if you ask me. There's also lots of photographs that have been used for the cards, something that doesn't look nearly as nice as an index card, check or something else with a solid-coloured background.

Packs are going for about $100 a pop. Most signers appear on 10 or fewer cards. Only 199 cases of the set were made.

The Checklist for Razor's $2000/Pack Stuff

My, oh, my Razor is making a splash in the hobby all of a sudden. First off they're signing some of baseball's top picks to exclusive card deals for their time in the minors, then they're releasing a $100/pack product filled with cut signatures from mainly current stars (more on this set in a future post) and now they're making the former benchmark for the hobby in terms of high pack prices Upper Deck Exquisite look like early 1990s junk wax.

When it releases, 2008 Razor Cut Signature Oval Office Edition will carry a suggested price of $2,000 per pack. This isn't for the faint of heart, folks. It didn't take long for Razor to release the checklist either. It's posted on their website here and embedded below.

Less than 100 packs total, everything's a 1-of-1 and I feel sorry for the person who gets either of the Bush-es seeing as how George Sr. can be found in Americana II for about $300-400. At least there's pictures of the subjects that should add to the design.

Two-freaking grand for a pack of cards!