Gallery: Star Wars Galaxy 5 Autographs

Although there have been autographs in previous Star Wars Galaxy sets from Topps, they've all been from set artists and not the stars of the films. That's changed with the recently released Star Wars Galaxy 5, which includes a total of six signatures.
Inserted at a rate of 1:274 hobby packs, all six are from iconic characters such as Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Chewbacca. In fact, Darth Vader has two autographs: one from David Prowse, the man in the costume, and another from the heavy-breathing James Earl Jones who provided the voice.

Sticking with the art focus of the set, as well as the brand's history, the autographs feature the character artwork from the original Star Wars Galaxy set. The one major drawback: the dreaded sticker autograph.

Topps did announce that a total of 1,000 autographs were produced for the set, meaning that there's an average of less than 200 of each. Judging from early sales, the Mark Hamill is the toughest of the lot.

Star Wars Galaxy 5 Autograph Checklist:

• Kenny Baker as R2-D2
• Jeremy Bulloch as Boba Fett
• Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker
• James Earl Jones as Darth Vader
• Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca
• David Prowse as Darth Vader

Kenny Baker as R2-D2

Jeremy Bulloch as Boba Fett

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker

James Earl Jones as Darth Vader

Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca

David Prowse as Darth Vader

If you'd like to check out more Star Wars autographs, click here to check out the gallery page I created on my main site.

T206 Honus Wagner Gets the Metallic Shine

Topps' online arm eTopps has released their T206 Tribute set. Available only for the week and initially as a complete set, it's a convergence of the old school hobby and new school technology. While I'm already pretty bored of the T206 design (I prefer the gold border T205 design), if these are anything like the eTopps Allen & Ginter cards as far as asthetics, they will be very nice.

The eTopps T206 Tribute set consists of 10 retired players. The photo selection is nice and the rainbow spin on the Wagner should be interesting. Sets are being offered for $69.99 and are limited to a maximum of 749 copies (I think it's a safe prediction that they're going to sell out). Cards are then placed in buyers' eTopps portfolios with an initial value of $7.00 each. If you just want a couple of singles you'll have to fight for them on eBay.

My guess is that a few of these will really take off. The T206 design is new to eTopps and the print run is quite low. The combination should keep most of these above their initial price offering (IPO). How much? I'm not sure. I do know I'm not willing to take the risk and will probably look for the Babe Ruth and the Nolan Ryan somewhere down the line on the secondary market.

Here's pictures of the complete set:

Here's the checklist:

1. Ernie Banks
2. Jackie Robinson
3. Babe Ruth
4. Lou Gehrig
5. Cy Young
6. Stan Musial
7. Mickey Mantle (who would have guessed he'd be #7)
8. Cal Ripken Jr.
9. Honus Wagner
10. Nolan Ryan

Gallery: 1985 Topps Father/Son

After being mauled by the kids at 6:30 this morning, I've come to the groggy realization that today is Father's Day. So here's a topical gallery to get your day going.

There's a subset in 1985 Topps Baseball that showcases various father and son duos who had made the Majors. "Father • Son" consists of 13 horizontal cards running from #131 through 143. Interestingly, it also shows Topps' love for their old stuff long before brands like Heritage emerged.

For all those dads out there, Happy Father's Day. I'm off to go watch some Doctor Who with my four-year-old daughter who thinks the aliens are strangely funny.

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

Gallery: X-Men Origins: Wolverine Autographs

Starting today, Wolverine is set to tear up the box office (no pun intended). Earlier this week Rittenhouse Archives released their X-Men Origins Wolverine set that included 16 autographs 15 found in packs and one distributed as a case incentive).

Although I see a lot of lesser supporting actors on the checklist, there are a couple of excellent first-time signers. Both Ryan Reynolds and Liev Schrieber are on the verge of superstardom. Both have been involved in a few attention-grabbing films. They also both have very famous significant others. Reynolds, a Canadian, married Scarlett Johansson after a long-term relationship with singer Alanis Morrisette. Schrieber has children with long-time girlfriend Naomi Watts.

Wolverine star Hugh Jackman is a part of the set. Although he's one of Hollywood's biggest stars, this shouldn't be a huge "get" as it's his fourth autograph card. He's signed as Wolverine twice, for Topps in the original X-Men set and for Rittenhouse for their X-Men: The Last Stand set, although that one was a tough six-case incentive. Jackman's third autograph can easily and unstandibly be overlooked, both because of its rarity and the fact that it was from the craptacular film Van Helsing. A reported 50 cards were signed for the set from Comic Images.

Rittenhouse has announced that the Jackman is "very limited," which means, according to their general guidelines, there's less than 250 of them. Reynolds and Schrieber are "limited," which puts them into the 250-500 copies range. Will.i.am is an incentive card for dealers ordering at least two cases.

More American Idol Cards on the Way

Whilst purusing the aisles of Dave and Adam's I came across a pre-sale for a new American Idol set due out in April. Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! Or not. Definitely not. There weren't a lot of details other than boxes having 24 packs of five cards, autographs, costume cards and music download opportunities.

This marks the fourth American Idol set (fifth if you include Fleer's card game) from three manufacturers. Fleer made sets for seasons three and four, while Comic Images stepped up for season six. All included autographs, most of which have faded into the obscurity they deserve. However there are a couple of standouts. The Season Three set included Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson and Season Four was buoyed by the success of Carrie Underwood. I managed to get $65 for a Hudson autograph a couple of years ago, but that was literally minutes after her Academy Awards speech. Today you can find it for under $15. The Underwood is much more expensive. Expect to shell out around $100 for one, more for the parallel limited to 25 copies.

The only way I can see any lasting interest in a new set is if Upper Deck convinces Paula Abdul and some of the special guest singers to provide autographs. Otherwise expect to find this set on clearance by the end of next year like the Season Six set from Comic Images is now.

In the meantime, here's a gallery of the Season Three autographs to send you into your own way back machine: