A Spartacus Memorial

When Starz released Spartacus (Full title Spartacus: Blood and Sand) in 2010 the graphic historical genre was riding a 10-year high after hits like Gladiator, 300: Rise of an Empire, Deadwood and Rome had people talking. Each one seemed to be even more graphic than the previous one and Spartacus took it over the top and it was one of my favorite shows.

The series is loosely based on the true exploits of the gladiator/slave Spartacus who led a slave revolt in 73 B.C., known as the Third Serville War. Since very little is known of the real Spartacus Starz improvised with plenty of sex and blood with the lead character played by Andy Whitfield. After the first season ended Whitfield was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, normally a very survivable cancer (My brother is a survivor) so Starz decided to do a prequel during Whitfield’s treatment. Sadly, Whitfield lost his battle in September 2011 and Starz decided to go on with the series for the originally planned three seasons with Liam McIntyre taking over the role of Spartacus for the final two seasons. But the show wasn’t the same, though entertaining, without Whitfield as Spartacus the origination storyline seemed broken.

Starz did include previous unreleased scenes of Whitfield through the series and after the series finale after the credits rolled they showed Andy Whitfield screaming “I Am Spartacus!” which was very appreciated by fans.

 

Rittenhouse released sets for each of the Spartacus seasons which some included Andy Whitfield autographs, though they were extremely outside of my price range, but when I came across an Andy Whitfield shadowbox In Memoriam card I had to have it. These were inserted as box toppers in the 2012 Rittenhouse Spartacus Gods and Arenas (the prequel) release and because the very limited boxes were released with $750 SRP (I believe there were 250 total boxes produced) these shadowbox cards rarely show up, though they are not very expensive when they do sell.

Spartacus Is Coming!

In April 2011 Rittenhouse Archives released a high-end set based on the Starz hit show Spartacus: Blood and Sand. A box ran $750 and contained 15 packs which gave you 30 autographs (2 autos/pack) and a whole slew of inserts. The product sold pretty well, eventually selling out. Prices for most autographs ran in the $75-150 range with Andy Whitfield (Spartacus) on the upper end of that range. Unfortunately he lost his battle with cancer last September and now Whitfield’s autographs are running around $250-300 each.

Fast forward a year and Rittenhouse will be following up that release with another Spartacus set, this time it will include both Blood and Sand and the prequel Gods of the Arena. Boxes will run $750 and contain 15 packs, though I have seen some pre-sells around $600 for a box. Each 9-card Premium pack contains 2 autographs, 2 Gods of the Arena episode cards, 1 Gladiator action card, 1 Battle for Freedom card, 1 Vengeance preview card (Vengeance is Season 2 of Spartacus), 1 Women of Spartacus and 1 Spartacus Gold Plaque card. Some dealers sell packs individually so you can find Premium packs in the $35-50 range.

The autograph checklist contains actors from both Season 1 and the prequel:

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena:

- Lucy Lawless (Lucretia)
- Jaime Murrary (Gaia)
- John Hannah (Batiatus)
- Manu Bennett (Crixus)
- Dustin Clare (Gannicus)
- Craig Walsh Wrightson (Solonius)
- Temeura Morrison (Doctore)
- Jeffrey Thomas (Titus)
- Jessica Grace Smith (Diona)
- Stephen Lovatt (Tullius)
- Shane Rangi (Dagan)
- Peter Feeney (Quintillius Varis)

Spartacus: Blood & Sand:
- Lliam Powell (Numerius)
- David Austin (Medicus)
- John Bach (Magistrate Calavius)
- Reuben de Jong (Theokoles)

This year they will be including a box topper as well as multi-box incentives.

Box Topper: Andy Whitfield memorial Shadowbox card

2-Box Incentive: Spartacus Relic card

4-Box Incentive: Peter Mensah (Doctore) Autograph

8-Box Incentive: Archive box including a master set and all inserts

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.