A Prize That Is Finally Mine

During the 2013 Industry Summit Famous Fabrics, to promote the upcoming Horrors of War II release, inserted three different relics in random packs. The three relics; WWII Navy Flight Suit, Vietnam Army Uniform and Spanish-American War Tunic, were limited to #/30 each for a total of 90 cards in the set.

 

I picked up the WWII and Spanish-American War relics right after the Industry Summit but the Vietnam relic card supply dried up. Since March 2013 I have been waiting patiently for a sign of any of the Vietnam relics to show up with no luck. Last week a Canadian dealer posted up two of them for auction, I was in heaven, and at $9.99 (plus $4 shipping) I was the only bidder so I won with no change in the price. I didn’t see what the second one sold for but at the $13.99 total price I paid was actually less than I paid for the other two cards ($18 & $24).

 

Here are all three of my cards together, a nice collection for a history buff like me. It is always a great feeling when you complete a set, even though this is only 3 cards it was a chase.

Part III- 2013 Horrors Of War II

Today is June 6^th, D-Day. 69 years ago the largest amphibious assault in history led to a beach head on the coast of Normandy which changed the tide of war for the Allies and allowed them to begin the final march to Berlin. In total there were 155,000 soldiers from 11 nations that took part in the invasion along with 195,000 naval personnel and 5,000 ships in support. I find it fitting that I end my three part review of the upcoming Horrors of War II release on an important day in the history of World War II.

 

Today I will cover the “big” hits, cut signature cards and art cards.

 

In a close out post covering Horrors of War Series II, Famous Fabrics has released a preliminary list of the cut signature cards that are included on the checklist. HoW Series I cut signature checklist was made up with a large collection of Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War with a number of veterans from other conflicts like the American Revolution, Gulf War, Cold War and War on Terror. The checklist from HoW Series II is similar but includes some additional conflicts like Carlist Wars (a series of Spanish Civil Wars), Crimean War, Franco-Prussian War, the French Revolution, the Mexican Revolution and Second Boer War. So far there are well over 150 veterans on the checklist from 19 different conflicts, and this is only a preliminary list too.

 

Like Horrors of War I the card designs and card colors are different for each conflict for example yellow for WWII, purple for WWI and blue for the Civil War.

 

 

The checklist for the art cards is also complete and contains 16 people, the Czar Nicholas II card has not been shown yet. Here is the list of 16 people on the checklist:

Benito Mussolini

Douglas MacArthur
Hideki Tojo
Winston Churchill
Jim Doolittle
Charles de Gaule
Joseph Stalin
Napoleon Bonaparte
Emperor Hirohito
Adolph Hitler
Heinrich Himmler
Erwin Rommel
Osama bin Laden
Czar Nicholas II
Franz Ferdinand
Dwight Eisenhower

 

 

There were multiple artists involved with creating this set with one of my favorite artists, Jared Kelley, creating 7 of the cards. He did 7 personalities x 10 cards each, so he did a total of 70 cards (out of 160 total cards). If you are interested in seeing more of his work, he has worked with Famous Fabrics/Sport Kings/ITG and Upper Deck; here is a link to Jared Kelley’s web site

 

Here are the cards created by Jared, he also did Czar Nicholas II but I have not seen that card yet:

 

Here are the remaining 9 cards; I do not know who the other artist(s) are at this time.

 

 

Being a history based set I feel very connected to these types of releases, they are educational and informative. As George Santayana said (and repeated by History teachers to this day in various forms) “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.

Part II- 2013 Horrors Of War II

At the end of the month Famous Fabrics will be releasing Horrors of War II, a follow up to the 2011 Horrors of War I set. This base set checklist begins where Series I left off so this is a continuation of that checklist. This 40-card set will include cards #49 through 88 on the checklist and each base card will be limited to #/40. The checklist begins with card #49- The Seven Years War (1754-1763) and runs through 17 different conflicts ending with card #88- War on Terror.

The base cards are only the beginning of the product. Last year we saw each $160 box contain 2 cards, one base card and one cut signature, this year there will be 3 cards per box. No price has been announced yet. There will be one base card, one cut signature and one special insert. The special card will be one of four inserts; a Military Relic card (similar to the Las Vegas Summit preview cards), a Military Patch Relic card, a Hand-Painted Art card or an original 1938 Horrors of War Buyback card.

The Military Relic cards will contain a uniform swatch from various military uniforms and they will be numbered to #/30 each. I believe there will be 40-42 cards on this checklist based on the numbering shown on preview images.

The Military Patch Relic cards have uniform patches and each card is 1/1, based on the numbering it appears that there may be 200 different patches.

The Hand-Painted Art cards have a 16-card checklist and each card will be #/10. Jared Kelley is the artist who painted the cards, I will cover the Art Cards tomorrow.

The 1938 Horrors of War Buyback cards are original cards that have been graded and slabbed by PSA; no other information has been announced about these cards.

I am a little confused about the numbering, there are only going to be 1,600 boxes printed total and with one special insert card per box there should only be a total of 1,600 special cards. The math just does not add up though when you look at the preview cards. Not counting the buy-back cards the numbering shown already equals 1,610 special cards, not to mention that if there are 1,250 Military Relic cards it means there are 41.6667 cards on the checklist (huh?). My guess is that these label numbers are just mock-ups and not actual numbers.

Part I- 2013 Horrors Of War II

One of my favorite non-sports vintage sets would be the R69 1938 Horrors of War by Gum, Inc. This set has some of the most vibrant and detailed illustrations I have ever seen and while they do depict violence there is something beautiful about the product. In 2011 Famous Fabrics released Horrors of War, now designated as Horrors of War I, a 48-card addition building on to the original 1938 set. What made the set quite interesting, besides the limited number of boxes released, was the addition of a 1/1 cut signature card that included the signature of a soldier or political personality connected to various military actions from the American Revolution to the War on Terror. Prices obviously range greatly from $30-40 range all the way up in to the thousands for someone like John F. Kennedy.

These signatures made the product so popular that it sold out as soon as it was made available, knowing that eventually a second series would be released I began wondering what Famous Fabrics was going to do to top their previous release. During the 2013 Las Vegas Summit Famous Fabrics made the announcement that Horrors of War II would be out this summer, June 27, and they even included three special relic cards in preview packs during the event to show one of those new additions to the upcoming set. I set out immediately to add all three cards to my personal collection, I was able to pick up two of the cards within the first week following the Summit but then it seems like the supply dried up and the third card has alluded me since.

The three cards contained one of three uniform swatches and the cards were each #/30 for a total of 90 cards being made. The uniform swatch is quite large, roughly 1.5x1.5 inches, and the card design highlights the relic. The front tells what type of uniform the piece is from and which war it was worn during. The back is pretty basic, the standard “Congratulations” message and a short description of the item. The cards are encased with the label including all the same info, the card number out of #/30 as well as the total series number out of #/90.

The first thirty cards are from a U.S. Navy Winter Flight Suit from World War II. My card is #21/30 and #21/90 and it is a beautiful reddish-brown leather fabric that is very similar to a WWII flight jackets but heavier.

The second thirty cards are from a uniform worn by the U.S. Army Rainbow Brigade from the Vietnam War. I do not have this card and I am unable to find these cards anymore, I waited on these because the price was pretty low and I figured to get the other two cards first. Now I am stuck waiting for one to show up for auction.

The final thirty cards are from a U.S. Army Tunic from the Spanish-American War. My card is #16/30 and #76/90 and it is a dirty-tan color that looks oddly like corduroy pants.

Being a history buff these cards are a wonderful addition to my personal collection, hopefully I will be able to pick up one of the Rainbow Brigade cards to complete the three card checklist. These cards are just a preview of one aspect of the upcoming Horrors of War II set, along with the military uniform relics we will also see Military patch cards, actual patches from various uniforms, and hand painted cards. They are also inserting original 1938 Horror of Wars buyback cards. I will do a preview of the new set shortly.