To 75th Or Not 75th?

Topps recently released the Topps 75^th Anniversary set, a 100-card set built around their non-sport sets from the 1960s through the 1990s. I have been taking a look at the autographs, specifically Roger Moore and Richard Kiel but I don’t know how I feel about the design. The autograph card has a 1/3 sized reprint of an original card on foil board with a sticker autograph. Not great but who doesn’t want to add James Bond or JAWS to their collection? The base autograph design is a simple foil but their are also Rainbow Foil (#/150) and Diamond Anniversary (#/75) parallels.

 

I will probably give in and buy the autographs if they are reasonably priced but I just wish the autograph design was better.

Shadowbox Mania

I have been looking to pick up a Shadowbox card since they first hit the scene a couple of years ago. Using multiple layers, Upper Deck came up with a new level for cards which has since been duplicated by Topps and Panini. We have even seen Rittenhouse use the technology with their James Bond and Star Trek licenses. Over time we have seen some additions like autographs, jersey swatches and inserts and rivets so you can change the look of your card.

 I have watched a handful of cards, usually ending with a price higher than I was willing to play. Because I was looking for specific players I also found myself playing the waiting game. Earlier this year one of those cards I was waiting for, Gale Sayers, showed up and I lost out on a last minute bid. I was actually considering just grabbing up any player who was up for auction but didn’t want to drop money on a card that I was not interested in adding to my collection just to satisfy an urge. I am glad I waited because this one showed up and when the auction ended I paid 50 cents less than the Sayers card went for earlier this year.

 

These are the type of cards that you need to have in your hand to appreciate. I just picked up a couple of Rittenhouse shadowbox cards, Daniel Craig James Bond Shadowbox card and James Doohan Star Trek Shadowbox card, to add to the collection.

Bond, James Bond!

I have always been a James Bond fan, besides the Star Wars trilogy there was nothing that grabbed my attention as a kid like a guy with a license to kill. This appreciation of a good spy flick has carried over in to my adult years.

I think bringing in Daniel Craig has brought new life in the series that lost some of the wind in it sails after a tough transition in the 1980-90s where we saw three actors play James Bond in a 10-year span, though Pierce Brosnan did do a decent job during his 4 film tenure as 007. I am actually watching Thunderball right now as I am writing this post; EPIX is doing a Bond Marathon this month so I am in heaven.

As a James Bond fan there is a large selection of collectibles, with 23 movies (25 if you count the 1967 spoof Casino Royale or the 1983 remake Never Say Never) to work with you have your choice of 6 James Bonds, 7 if you count David Niven in the spoof, a laundry list of Bond Villains and a dirty laundry list of Bond Girls. In the last couple of years Rittenhouse Archives has done an amazing job bringing the collectors closer to the films including hundreds of autographs and plenty of interesting and original relic/costume cards.

One of my favorite Bond pickups is from the 2007 Rittenhouse Complete James Bond release. The set included autographs and relics from the 21 Bond films that had been released at that time and I was hunting for cards related to Daniel Craig and the Playing Card relic and Dual Tux Costume card were my target, along with a Casino Chip relic which has still alluded me.

In one of the scenes in Casino Royale Bond is wearing a tux and he is bleeding, his shirt is covered in blood and this happens to be one of the shirts that Rittenhouse got to make their costume relic cards. The relic cards that included a piece of the bloody shirt were premium pieces and cost quite a bit more, currently there is a bloody shirt relic card sitting at $129.99 while a relatively non-bloody shirt is at $39.99. I actually ended up getting both cards for around $30 shipped so I was pretty fortunate. The cards came in a rigid holder with a Rittenhouse Archives seal closing it in, but I removed the card. I have no intent on selling them and what is the point of having a relic card if you can not touch the relic?