Citadel Magic Tokens

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timebeing
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Citadel Magic Tokens

Post by timebeing » Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:51 am

I was wondering what these go for? recall seeing a set go for very little a few years ago. 50-75. I'm intrested in a set, but not sure what price range i should be looking at.

Thanks

hammr7
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Post by hammr7 » Wed Mar 22, 2006 2:46 pm

Citadel tokens are obscure, and aren't offered too often. So it is difficult to put a specific price on them. However, most sales of the tokens go for well under $1.00 per token, even in small lots. The problem is finding them, since they are often mislabeled. The Alpha and Beta tokens are normally found individually, or in small lots. The Unlimited can be found in small lots, or by the entire box of 270 tokens.

In determining a better price range, it is necessary to first determine what series you want, and then determine what you consider a "set". Do you want one of each character, one of each artwork and / or color variation (since there were multiple artworks and colors for many characters), or just a whole box of Unlimited?

In the last few years, the only Citadel auction lot to do well was a sealed Unlimited box, which went for around $170. It went to a collector who was willing to bid that high since the box was mint and sealed (he is a collector of sealed products, like boosters and starter decks). The two other boxes I have seen on eBay sold for $30 and $55, repsectively. The $55 was for a full box of 270 tokens, while the $30 was for a box missing a handful of the tokens.

timebeing
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Post by timebeing » Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:36 pm

Thanks for the quick very compleat answer. I had forgotten that there was a beta and alpha printing.

I'm mainly looking at a "Full Box" of UNL, doesn't need to be sealed. Been keep an eye on ebay, and this is the first one i've seen in over a year.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Citadel-Gaming-Magi ... dZViewItem

but from what it sounds like, he is asking more then what they really sell for.

I'm guessing Alpha and Beta did not come in a set box like UNL?

Thanks!

hammr7
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Post by hammr7 » Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:40 pm

I saw that auction as well. The seller has a steep opening price, but you never know what someone might pay. With eBay, he can always relist it for free at a lower opening price if it doesn't sell.

In theory, if you got 5 or 6 people together who wanted the tokens, the price per-person for a set wouldn't be ridiculous. The potential problem is that these boxes have very scattered distributions. If you buy the entire box, it is quite likely that the skeleton and/or kelp tokens (15 tokens per box, 3 variations per token) will have as little as 2 or 3 copies of at least one variation. So not everyone would get full sets.

timebeing
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Post by timebeing » Wed Mar 22, 2006 10:34 pm

we'll i guess i'll see if it sells, and if not, will wait to se eif he relists.

timebeing
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Post by timebeing » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:40 am

Looks like someone grabbed it for the $200 BIN. crazy...

hammr7
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Post by hammr7 » Sun Mar 26, 2006 8:17 am

It is crazy. Remember that if there was overall even production of all the variants, then there are 5,000 full sets. If there was even distribution by creature, then there are almost 10,000 sets. In either case, there are far more of these tokens than there are other collectible token sets.

I've e-mailed the winner, and after seeing information about the tokens on our site, he decded he needed to win the auction to see what they were like. He sounds like someone who wants a set for himself, and will probably be selling extras, either here or on eBay. While they might be a bit pricey, at least singles should be available, which is always the problem with these tokens.

mbrixius

Post by mbrixius » Thu Aug 10, 2006 4:32 am

hammr7 wrote:It is crazy. Remember that if there was overall even production of all the variants, then there are 5,000 full sets. If there was even distribution by creature, then there are almost 10,000 sets. In either case, there are far more of these tokens than there are other collectible token sets.

I've e-mailed the winner, and after seeing information about the tokens on our site, he decded he needed to win the auction to see what they were like. He sounds like someone who wants a set for himself, and will probably be selling extras, either here or on eBay. While they might be a bit pricey, at least singles should be available, which is always the problem with these tokens.
The tokens were not actually produced in even numbers of each variant and in retrospect I think we might have overdone it on the Kelp and Skeletons. They were also sold in 25 packs of one type of token for refills since the sets were intended for store display and we expected sales to consumers to be of individual tokens. I would say that there were probably no less than 1000 sets sold and no more than 5000 sets. The remainder were either sold as refills or were left overs of types that did not sell as well.

I also very much doubt that a full box of alphas exist. Our original intent was to black border the first print run and then have a white border in all others. (We never expected to print so many that multiple colors would be cost effective) The printer swore that there was NO WAY the ink would smudge when cutting the tokens but, as anyone with a few alphas can see, if you stack them the sides of the stack look very dirty. The printer actually started the artwork without borders before delivery of the "Alphas" but they gave them to us anyway so we could fill the orders we had in local stores. The alphas were available in Willamette Valley stores (Eugene-Salem Oregon) for about 2 weeks. Once the cleaner "Beta" tokens arrived we made a road trip and replaced all the tokens that remained in the stores (We viewed them as defective). Somewhere in the Eugene Oregon landfill are boxes of the alpha tokens, All that I have left are 4-6 of each design that I was using at the time and missed when throwing them out and an uncut sheet of the alphas that were given as a proof before the die for cutting was ready.

Also I noted above that some people got full boxes of unlimited but did not get a full set of the art (Which is entirely possible since the tokens came to us in mixed boxes). If anyone wants to trade out one token that they got a ton of, for an art image they are missing send me an email (citadel@copyfaxprint.com) and let me know which one you need. If I have it then I will send an address for you to send the trade token and a Self addressed stamped envelope and I will send you the one you need.

The funny thing is that we did this because we loved MtG and NEVER expected them to become collectable. While the tokens were never a financially successful venture (Tom and I each came out ahead exactly 1 new computer) I think the fact that people like them enough to collect them is an even greater reward.

Thank you all

Mike Brixius & Tom Ebling

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