Metal Cards

[silver.paladin]

With the metal cards on this site (BoP and Fork), is this the same sort of item, or is this all together different?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... gory=19115

[Muldoon]

Mmmm that lovely dragon... Feels a bit priced out of my range, though...

[dragsamou]

Hi Members.
What are we talking about here the Magic Rarities Version about the previous card of this type:
Furthermore, there is a high quality copy of a Fork made entirely of brass.
Both cards are believed to be inofficial, and maybe unique, third-party items created as samples to offer Wizards of the Coast alternate card creation techniques in hope of engaging in business.

Or the Seller's Version:
This is an incredibly rare item. Taken from the printing plate of the 4th Edition print run, this was stamped out of the metal to create a truly one-of-a-kind collectable card.

Let's see what members have to say about this  ;)

[silver.paladin]

Mmmm that lovely dragon... Feels a bit priced out of my range, though...

I agree Muldoon,  I have been watching that dragon and was going to buy it myself.  Last night the price was still affordable, but come this morning, it has shot up beyond what I am willing to pay anymore, in part due to what Drags is saying, whether this really is a WoTC test plate, or if a 3rd party made it as a sample to induce business.  

Well, looks like cheese and pickles can duke it out, though now that queensdomain has entered the picture, the hamburger twins may not be able to win anymore   ;D

[AXIOS]

queensdomain also has the metal fork (thnx to me  :'( )

[Archivist]

The "printing press" explaination does not make sense. Presses that use plates have a different on for each color and would only show the detail for that color. In other words, there is no way the "plate" pictured could be used to create a card. Each printing plate would show varying levels of intensity for either Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-blacK. This metal plate seems simply to be representation of the full-color finished card, but in grey-scale.

The BoP and Fork already pictured on the site were from Unlimited and Revised, respectively, yet the Shivan is from 4th edition.

[Archivist]

Quite a fight. It ended at $255.
http://offer.ebay.com/ws3/eBayISAPI.dll ... 3184860333

[MOT]

I didn't see this earlier or I may have considered bidding.

I agree with Motor about the colors, each color would have it's own plate.  Another thing to consider is that the artwork on a printing plate would be a mirror image.

This just looks like someone used some technique to etch a greyscale image onto metal.  I don't really believe this to be part of an actual printing plate.

[TerraFrost]

good observation, motorcitymagic...

i think this kinda begs the question...  should the revised fork be listed as a test print?  i mean, if it were a test print, why run the same type of test print for a later set?  if whatever it is they were testing was rejected, the rejection of an identical test seems certain.  alternatively, if whatever it is they were testing was accepted, what could they hope to be testing, this time?

the flip side is that no one was trying to test anything, and that someone just discovered something neat they could do with their cards.  the fact that only extremely popular cards have been subjected to this process lends credence to this, imho.

[Ralph Herold]

I know nothing more about the card than you, but from image alone this card seems to be different from the brass Fork. Have a look at the peculiar press mark on the right edge. This could not have happened to the brass Fork, so this card is probably made in a different way, maybe made of another material.

[rg]

I know nothing more about the card than you, but from image alone this card seems to be different from the brass Fork. Have a look at the peculiar press mark on the right edge. This could not have happened to the brass Fork, so this card is probably made in a different way, maybe made of another material.

Maybe Jim can give us some additional infos after he receives it. And a better scan.

[silver.paladin]

good observation, motorcitymagic...

i think this kinda begs the question...  should the revised fork be listed as a test print?  i mean, if it were a test print, why run the same type of test print for a later set?  if whatever it is they were testing was rejected, the rejection of an identical test seems certain.  alternatively, if whatever it is they were testing was accepted, what could they hope to be testing, this time?

the flip side is that no one was trying to test anything, and that someone just discovered something neat they could do with their cards.  the fact that only extremely popular cards have been subjected to this process lends credence to this, imho.

A question that I am thinking about, that may refute your logic (please let me know if I am wrong here), but how could this be used for a later test print?  I can see and understand that the picture, text and all can be used in each and every print series, however the copyright line would change with each series also, so therefore there should be a different plate for each series or edition of cards.
And, if they were using plates to print the cards, would they not just use one large plate for each printing of sheets, rather than individual plates?  Though, then again, if they used individual plates, that might explain how miscuts and such happen - because the plates shifted on the printing plate when the cards were made.

Would this not be logical?  If of course, the metal plates are real, and not just something that somebody (or bodies) created for their own personal entertainment.  Its too bad in a way, that Cardi Mundi is not more open about how they do things, so that people would know for sure what is happening, rather than creating many different suggestions about what may be.

[GavinO]

It looks to me like a dinged up normal Shivan, with the pic converted to greyscale.  If it weren't for the surface its on being mildly off-grey, I'd say it was that almost for certain.  

As for it being from a printing plate, would there not be a decent bend to it from being a drum for a long time?

[Archivist]

And, if they were using plates to print the cards, would they not just use one large plate for each printing of sheets, rather than individual plates?  Though, then again, if they used individual plates, that might explain how miscuts and such happen - because the plates shifted on the printing plate when the cards were made.

You're absolutely right, they use much larger plates to print full sheets. One plate per color and etched in the mirror image of the final pattern. The quality control of the printing process must be much better than the cutting, since its quite rare to see major inking errors. If you look at an uncut sheet, there are alignment and color checking regions along the edges which they use.

After printing (and drying), a separate step is used to cut the sheets apart, they aren't printed and cut out at the same time.

Miscuts where the card borders are shifted (as opposed to angled miscuts and crimps) most commonly come in runs, because the entire sheet went through the cutter misaligned. For instance, finding one miscut means there are probably other cards with a similar miscut in other packs from the same box or case, or even all together, depending on the process.

[mintcollector]

There is no way this can be from a print plate of any sort.  The image would need to be reversed to print out correctly.  This is much like the brass BOP queensdomain has.  Material appears to be tin or sheet metal in nature.