Rittenhouse Archives Spartacus: Blood And Sand

I am a fan of the show Spartacus on Starz. If you have not seen the show it is loosely based on the true story of Spartacus, a Thracian who was taken prisoner by the Romans and sold in to slavery where he was trained as a gladiator and then led a slave revolt around 73 BC.

When I found out that Rittenhouse Archives will be releasing a set based on the first season, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, I was excited. But the price floored me. We are talking a whopping $750/box! You read that correctly, not $75 but $750!

Schedule Release Date: April 6, 2011
Box Configuration: 15 packs per box, 6 cards per pack
SRP: $750/box

Box Break:
30 Autograph cards
30 Episode Synopsis cards #/250
15 Savage card #/350
15 Seductive card #/350


Each box, if collated correctly, should give you 2 complete autograph sets, and a complete set of the Episode Synopsis, Savage and Seductive sets plus an additional 22 cards from the 4 different insert sets. That is IF each box is collated correctly, if not I can see some very upset customers.

Here is the information directly from Rittenhouse’s web site:

• 12 Autograph Cards (2 cards per Premium Pack)
o Andy Whitfield (Spartacus)
o Lucy Lawless (Lucretia)
o John Hannah (Batiatus)
o Viva Bianca (Ilithyia)
o Jai Courtney (Varro)
o Lesley-Ann Brandt (Naevia)
o Erin Cummings (Sura)
o Katrina Law (Mira)
o Nick Tarabay (Ashur)
o Manu Bennett (Crixus)

• 26 Episode Synopses Cards, 2 cards per episode, with each card sequentially numbered to 250 (2 cards per Premium Pack)

• 9 "Savage" Cards, depicting the blood, violence and action of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, with each card sequentially numbered to 350 (1 card per Premium Pack)

• 9 "Seductive" Cards, featuring the sexiest women and most provocative moments from Spartacus: Blood and Sand, with each card sequentially numbered to 350 (1 card per Premium Pack)



They only list 10 actors on the checklist on their web site so I wonder who the other 2 autographs may be. Hopefully one of them is Peter Mensah, who played Doctore, a major character in the first season. I wouldn’t mind seeing either Craig Walsh Wrightson, who plays Solonius, or Antonio Te Maioha, who plays Barca.

I understand you are getting 30 autographs, but there is only 12 actors on the checklist so you will be seeing at least 2 if not 3 of each person. The other inserts are just that, insert sets. Even with low numbering that doesn’t account for the cost of the product. You can probably argue that there will only be 200 boxes made but if the boxes are collated correctly there will still be at least 400 autos of each person which is nothing compared to the 1/1 autos that you find in many sports releases.

I will be looking to picking up individuals of the Savage cards and I wouldn’t mind finding an Andy Whitfield or the very beautiful Viva Bianca autograph for a reasonable price.



In a final note I wish Andy Whitfield the best of luck in his battle with cancer, all of his fans are supporting him during this difficult time.