Middle Ages questions (part 2)

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Middle Ages questions (part 2)

Post by Archivist » Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:50 pm

(part 1 for refence)

According to http://www.magiclibrary.net/rarities-middle-ages.html :
The print run consisted of 1,000 sheets, for a total of 90,000 stickers. ... The stickers were printed on two sheets: an uncommon sheet and a common sheet, each holding 45 images.
There seems to be a math problem here. Each sheet is 45 cards, so if 1000 sheets were printed, that would make the run 45,000 cards.

This is still much higher than "popular knowledge" of the time that said there were only 100 boxes sold (100 boxes * 30 packs * 8 cards = 24,000 total cards). Of course, this lower number may be a result of the cease-and-desist order and the apparent disposal of the remaining stickers.

Anyone know what the source of either set of numbers is?

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Why have I never seen the box packaging? Does anyone have one of the boxes?

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Does anyone know the Scrye magazine issue from early 1995 in which these were mentioned?
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Ralph Herold
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Post by Ralph Herold » Sat Jul 30, 2005 10:39 pm

The data is from a time when Bob and I worked together. I only recall that I analyzed the print sheets and created the spread sheet, but I do not remember who did what and where exactly we got the information from. I think it was from multiple sources including ebay and an attempt to contact Fred Ditzler who did not remember much.

The way I understand the numbers both sheets had been printed 1000 times. This is indeed possible, because I never found out how many cards from which sheet were taken to fill a booster. The relation could very well be 4:4, so that "common" and "uncommon" cards would be equally rare. I would need somebody to open his booster and compare the cards with the print sheets on this website.

I would like to see a booster box and would add an image to the website.

I was not aware that Middle Ages was mentioned in Scrye. I will look it up.

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Post by hammr7 » Sun Jul 31, 2005 5:27 am

As a collector of Middle Ages stickers, I have had e-mail communications with Fred Ditzler over the past few years. And while he doesn't remember much (and I don't know if the amnesia is time-induced, or Wizards cease-and-desist induced), I was able to find out a few things.

While he did package much of the print run into boosters, not all the stickers that were produced made it into sealed product. Ditzler had his "ungodly rares" which were kept completely - or almost completely - out of sealed product and were offered as mail-in redemptions. Fred claimed that he tried to arrange it so there was at least one full set per booster box, but he couldn't remember if that included the ungodly rares.

In addition, there were apparantly a large number of other stickers that were extras. It seems that most of these were uncommons, so perhaps Ditzler planned to use them with a second printing of commons if the set sold well. That they existed at all implies that the distribution of commons and uncommons in boosters was not uniform.

All of these extra cards were sold or given, privately, in various amounts, to about a half dozen shops and collectors, when Wizards came after the set. The store in Maryland that sells the lots that show up on eBay was one of these. Those lots feature multiple copies of the "ungodly rares" as well as a sticker mix that I believe is uncommon-heavy (Alexis recently purchased one of these, so he could confirm this). My communications with that shop have led me to believe they still have a decent inventory of these stickers (they've already sold at least a dozen of these lots, always with the same stickers). I've determined that they don't keep their inventory at the store (probably because it was supposed to be destroyed). I've also determined that they have few, if any, of the other stickers from the set.

This could resolve the discrepency between what was supposedly produced and what was released. And it might help explain that the boosters didn't need to be balanced between commons and uncommons. It might take opening a number of boosters to confirm the numbers, and what the actual distribution was. I can say anecdotaly that it seems some of the commons are more difficult to find than many of the supposedly difficult uncommons.

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Post by dragsamou » Sun Jul 31, 2005 8:23 am

hammr7 wrote:Those lots feature multiple copies of the "ungodly rares" as well as a sticker mix that I believe is uncommon-heavy (Alexis recently purchased one of these, so he could confirm this).
I can confirmed this Hank :D
If needed,I can provide the List of this"Special Ungodly Rares" :wink:
EDIT:
Altland's War Machine U1
Aquarius C1
Balista U1
Captain Sebastian C1
Castle Anthrax C1
Dragon Slayer C1
Dwarven General U1
Eclipse C1
Eternal Battlefield C1
Hierophant U1
Huber's Hypnotic Gaze U1
Musical Chairs U1
Necromancer U1
Old Master C1
Overlord C1
Paladin of the Great Griffon U1
Papal Blessing U1
Primeval Dawn U1
Pyrian Spring U1
Redirection C1
Rosencrantz the Loud C1
Rukh U1
Shadow Drake U1
Thirty Pieces of Silver U1
Tiberius U1
Tinker of Troublador U1
Tutenkhamen U1
Wall of Force C1
War Alter U1
Wasp of the Hive U1
Wyvern U1
Last edited by dragsamou on Sun Jul 31, 2005 8:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Want/Have Lists.
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Post by Archivist » Sun Jul 31, 2005 8:03 pm

dragsamou wrote:If needed,I can provide the List of this"Special Ungodly Rares" :wink:
Yes, please do. I've gotten a list, but it was not exact.
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Post by Ralph Herold » Sat Aug 06, 2005 9:09 pm

motorcitymagic: I have checked all the Scrye issues up to the May/June 1995 issue and could not find anything. Can you confirm that what you seek is in the Scrye magazine? Furthermore, can you provide any more hints what to look for or where?

dragsamou/motorcitymagic: May I know where you have these lists from? How reliable and comprehensive are they?

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Post by dragsamou » Sun Aug 07, 2005 7:23 am

Ralph Herold wrote: dragsamou/motorcitymagic: May I know where you have these lists from? How reliable and comprehensive are they?
Hi Ralph.
This is the list of the Stickers,that I received from the Ebay Shop that Hammr7 mentioned in his post.
Want/Have Lists.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8903
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1515
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Post by random » Sun Aug 07, 2005 7:58 am

Hi, my first post here.
I remember reading about the stickers around 1995-96 in Scrye or Inquest magazines. There was also an ad or insert from the company itself and a few paragraphs reviewing the stickers. I just bought 20 of them on ebay if you need scans or anything.
Kev

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