Compilation "German/French Copyright" Test Prints. 23 March, 2022.

Different compilations of MTG products.

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Post by berkumps » Fri Mar 07, 2014 1:02 pm

dragsamou wrote:
cataclysm80 wrote:I saw on Facebook that someone has found 17 copies of the Unholy Strength/Blue Elemental Blast. Any idea how many of each exist?

Tav
Hi Tav

I know, this is a Mystery, except Amy Weber that did received 50 copies of a finished version of the Waldfeen (Mesa Pegasus/Scryb Sprites), it was the first time, I heard about someone having many like that. I have verified, the front and back of the Unholy Strength/Blue Elemental Blast from him and mine, they are the same. I can't provide any answer about how many of each exist, but looks like some are more rare than others, till they show up, from another WOTC employee or else.
I am guessing you are right, that some of these are "rare", until they show up from a WOTC employee (or the storage unit of a WOTC employee, as the BEB's supposedly came. He really did shoot himself in the foot by saying he got 17 in that collection, but I appreciate his honest full disclosure, as that information is rather interesting. Makes you wonder how many other goodies are just lying dormant in the "storage units" of present and former WOTC employees.

The true value of these, I suppose, is not how many were made by WOTC (which I'm guessing were a decent amount for alot of the test prints), but how many are "found" or make their way to market.

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Post by cataclysm80 » Mon Jun 09, 2014 7:32 pm

dragsamou wrote:
cataclysm80 wrote:I saw on Facebook that someone has found 17 copies of the Unholy Strength/Blue Elemental Blast. Any idea how many of each exist?

Tav
Hi Tav

I know, this is a Mystery, except Amy Weber that did received 50 copies of a finished version of the Waldfeen (Mesa Pegasus/Scryb Sprites), it was the first time, I heard about someone having many like that. I have verified, the front and back of the Unholy Strength/Blue Elemental Blast from him and mine, they are the same. I can't provide any answer about how many of each exist, but looks like some are more rare than others, till they show up, from another WOTC employee or else.
UPDATE: Amy put hers up on ebay some years ago. (Gunslinga purchased some/all? (at least 3)) Amy found one more recently (April 2014) and sold it on Facebook. She had this to say...

" I believe it to be a test print but it am not certain. I received it in the early nineties when I worked at wizards. Contrary to info on a website I did not get 50 of these like an artist proof. I got under ten...I think only about 7 and I believe this is my last. Another thing I thought I was out of but found recently."

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =720%2C960

It sounds like she did not receive 50 of them, although she may have received them in the same shipment as other artist proofs, similar to how Christopher Rush received the Double faced Ihsan's Shade cards.

Tav

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Post by dragsamou » Tue Jun 10, 2014 9:31 am

cataclysm80 wrote:
dragsamou wrote:
cataclysm80 wrote:I saw on Facebook that someone has found 17 copies of the Unholy Strength/Blue Elemental Blast. Any idea how many of each exist?

Tav
Hi Tav

I know, this is a Mystery, except Amy Weber that did received 50 copies of a finished version of the Waldfeen (Mesa Pegasus/Scryb Sprites), it was the first time, I heard about someone having many like that. I have verified, the front and back of the Unholy Strength/Blue Elemental Blast from him and mine, they are the same. I can't provide any answer about how many of each exist, but looks like some are more rare than others, till they show up, from another WOTC employee or else.
UPDATE: Amy put hers up on ebay some years ago. (Gunslinga purchased some/all? (at least 3)) Amy found one more recently (April 2014) and sold it on Facebook. She had this to say...

" I believe it to be a test print but it am not certain. I received it in the early nineties when I worked at wizards. Contrary to info on a website I did not get 50 of these like an artist proof. I got under ten...I think only about 7 and I believe this is my last. Another thing I thought I was out of but found recently."

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =720%2C960

It sounds like she did not receive 50 of them, although she may have received them in the same shipment as other artist proofs, similar to how Christopher Rush received the Double faced Ihsan's Shade cards.

Tav
Hi Tav

That "50" info came from Amy's Weber auction on Ebay back in the days, and to my memory, more than 10 were sold, a lot of Members of Magiclibrarities bought them, I know, at least 7 or 8.
PS: Link is not working

Reminder of an old thread about it:
http://www.magiclibrarities.net/forum/v ... us&start=0
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Post by dragsamou » Sat Apr 25, 2015 4:58 pm

Hi Members

While updating the first page of this topic, with a better presentation and info, I noticed something, all the "German/French Copyright" Test Prints use the Text from Limitierte Auflage (FBB German) exactly positionate in the same way except one card:

Riesenspinne (Giant Spider)
Illustration of the card: Swamp Version 2

Meaning that either the text used is maybe from:
Unlimitierte Auflage (WB German)
Fourth Edition German
OR
Unique text that was used for testing purpose
Same text positionated in another way

As, you can see the text doesn't fit properly in the text box:

Image

Does anyone have a German Giant Spider Unlimitierte Auflage WB and a 4Th Edition, so we can compare and solve that mystery. Thanks for helping
EDIT: Find scans on the internet.

German Limited

Image

German Unlimited and German 4Th Edition

ImageImage

So, that's the only German/French Copyright Test print so far using text from Limitierte Auflage (FBB German) positionated in another way. Interesting
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mmgun
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Post by mmgun » Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:24 pm

Imho the text on germanBB is just in another zoom factor, but otherwise the same.

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Post by cataclysm80 » Sat May 02, 2015 4:26 am

Nice find Alexis, very interesting.

I agree with mmgun about the unique text alignment being caused by resizing the FBB text.
We already know that they were adjusting the .eps text file for the cards as shown by the different font used on the white text.
Also the wording of the test print text matches FBB, but does not match either of the subsequent German printings.

Excerpt from my What Order Were The Sets Designed thread...
French black border
German black border
Armada Comics promo
switch to Small 1995 copyright date
Windseeker Centaur
Ice Age promo cards (including Fylgia & Prismatic Ward)
switch to new white mana symbol here.
Italian white border 3rd
switch to lighter textbox color
French white border 3rd (Has Small 1994/1995 dates, 1994 cards copied directly from French FBB)
German white border 3rd
At this point, I would date these test prints slightly before German FBB.
We've established that these test prints were made using whatever files were available on the computer, and that's why the .eps text file is mismatched with the .tiff image file. The likely reason that the German FBB .eps files were available on the computer is because that is the set that was being worked on when these test prints were made.
The fact that the text file and image file is mismatched is further evidence that the German FBB files were not yet complete and ready for printing.
These test prints all have a French copyright which is leftover from the previous set French FBB. Almost all of the German FBB .eps text files were later corrected from French to German, but the basic Islands did not get done. German FBB Islands show a French copyright like these test prints.

It's interesting that both the black border back and white border back versions of this test print show the same text issue.

It's possible that this early version of the German FBB text did not fit the text box after translation (as we see here) and was corrected before going to print.



Tav

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Re: Compilation "German/French Copyright" Test Prints

Post by cataclysm80 » Wed Aug 24, 2016 12:47 am

Amy Weber "found" some more of her Waldfeens.
At this point, it looks like she is intentionally selling a few at a time.
It's difficult to say how many she originally had. Maybe the 50 number from her original auction is correct, or maybe that's just a generic number because she always received 50 of each artist proofs.

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Re: Compilation "German/French Copyright" Test Prints

Post by cataclysm80 » Sun Aug 28, 2016 8:43 pm

I spoke with Amy some more about her Waldfeens.
She said that she definitely did not receive them with any artist proofs. They were given to her separately.
She worked for WotC as the Art Director of Duelist Magazine in 1994 & 1995.
Someone gave the Waldfeens to her while she was at work one day.

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Re: Compilation "German/French Copyright" Test Prints. 30 November, 2021

Post by dragsamou » Tue Nov 30, 2021 8:25 am

List updated with 2 New variants added in the Green and Basic Lands subsection:

German card name: Pestratten (Plague Rats)
Illustration of the card: Wild Growth
Front of the card: Plague Rats / Wild Growth
Text box: Text from Limitierte Auflage (FBB German)
French Copyright: © 1994 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Tous droits réservés.
Back of the card: Black Border Back

German card name: Schwäche (Weakness)
Illustration of the card: Forest Version 2
Front of the card: Weakness / Forest Version 2
Text box: Text from Limitierte Auflage (FBB German)
French Copyright: © 1994 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Tous droits réservés.
Back of the card: Black Border Back

Also added in the Test Prints subsection: *TEST PRINTS "GERMAN / FRENCH COPYRIGHT"*
http://www.magiclibrarities.net/711-rar ... index.html
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