The Update set; Odds, Pictures and Case/Box Breakdowns

[Guest]

[kbmum]

Goofyjas, you need to send an email to Artbox customer service explaining the problem with the card.  They'll get back to you about whether they have a replacement available and give you the address to send the damaged card.  It usually takes a week or two to hear from them.

[rns91294]

I have sent a card back to them for replacement before.  Had no problems.

[savage727]

I was expecting to see a good number of posts here after Christmas but I guess people did not get any more boxes/cases to open!  

[rns91294]

I agree.  Well, I did buy what was left of a box at my local comic shop.  I got 12 packs and got 1 filmcard from them.  Nothing really exciting though.  I am going to a card show in April and might buy another box or two. I will post my breakdowns if I do.

[Roz]

Where's the show Sara? (not that I can come of course)

But I was wondering - the show might be near to another member so it might be worth posting somewhere!

[rns91294]

The show is in Mt Laurel, New Jersey at Burlington County College.  It is called the Philly Non-Sports Card show.  I will post a thread that gives the website wherepeople can get more info.

[emmafan]

Hey guys, I apologize if I am interupting the current conversation.....but I was hoping you could help me out with a few questions (many of you seem so knowledgable), and I couldn't really find any recently viewed threads that dealt with newbies.

I am a college student from VA, so I dont really have that much money to invest at the moment.  But I am very interested in getting involved in collecting this update set.  The cards appear rich and detailed, and I would love to get my hands on a few of the costume/autos.  

I just recently became a fan of the Harry Potter movies, and have become obsessed with the entire universe.  As it is, I do have little or no knowledge about this card set.  However, I have become engrossed with this forum and have spent the last 5 hours just going through many of the topics that are listed.  Excellent job as this site is very well put together and extremly interesting.  (A bit too good and keeping me from my studies as well!)

I was hoping that someone could give me some insight as to how I could go about collecting this (or other) series.  As my name indicates, I am rather fond of emma watson and her character as hermione in the films....(I think I would do just about anything for one of her pink jumpsuit costume cards), but I am very interested in collecting the rest of the cards as well.  

Like I said, I'm only a poor college student, so I have at most 500$ to spend on these (that is if I am to eat salad for the next 3 months, lol) but would still be interested in investing a few hundred dollars.  However, as many of your forums indicate, I dont think I would get too far in a collection with this much money.  I am in no way looking to venture into this as profit, rather I am completely a fan of the series looking to collect these beautiful cards.  (Even though I do have the most wonderful crush on Emmaaaaaaa........lol).

What do you guys think I should do?  I'm not much up for ebaying and buying a few single cards....But it seems that many of you all have received much disappointment from the purchasing of several boxes.  

Aside from that, I wanted to introduce myself to this forum, and hope that I can become a regularly contributing member.  To those of you that spent the time reading this, thank you! and again I apologize if I have interupted anything.

[Roz]

Crumbs, interuptions are usually welcomed so don't worry about it!

Welcome to the forum - is that $500 US? Well if so you can get quite a nice and rich collection for that if you ask me, especially from this update set.

Although I am trying to go for a master set of this set myself - for LOTR my boyfriend Mark and I have got everything Aragorn/Elessar related and then one or two cards that we like - Gandalf's auto and costume etc. Nobody can dictate what you collect - that's totally up to you!

With $500 US Personally I think I would get one of the Hermione autos (either from the first set or the second since they are both very similar I would choose based on price and which card I prefered the look of, and then I'd collect a few other things. Off hand I can think of PoA classic - Hermione Robe /900 (you should be able to pick this up very cheaply - i.e. under $25), and also her pink jumper from the first set - seems to be around $75 at the moment which is definitely cheaper than in the past, From the update set there are more Hermione oriented things to choose from - her trousers, her scarf, and a repackaged version of the pink jumper from the first set.

You should definitely have change from your money set aside if you got the above cards, but maybe you'd like to get one or two of the more significant things of other characters too - like Draco Malfoy's robe, or a Harry costume, or a Ron costume.

The best place to muse around and make decisions on this is to look in the price guide - www.theyakshack.co.uk/trading cards - take a look at each card, note down the average recent price and see what fits in your budget!

Well... that's what I'd recommend doing anyway!

Take care and enjoy your new hobby

[rns91294]

Hi Emmafan!! Welcome to the forum!!

I agree that you can get a good deal of cards on eBay right now from this update set. Or, if you felt like driving to New Jersey in April, you could pick up some boxes at the card show.  I am sure you can still find them reasonably priced online as well, however, if it is Hermione cards you are after, you are better off buying them individually.

If you like the Hermione sweater from the first set, which is a very popular card, I do recommend eBay, as boxes from the first set cost over $100 and since there are only 450 of this card made, you are better off just buying the individual card.  

I bought a couple boxes from the update set and was not dissapointed, as I, like you, am a collector and was ahppy with every card I got.  Now, I am just buying more here and there on eBay, as the more you get, the better chancs of getting a duplicate in your boxes of those higher print run cards.

Please stick around, we are glad to have you with us, and let us know how things go!!!

[Anna]

Hi Emmafan,

I agree with rsn91294,  if you don't have the funds, do not buy the boxes.  I had recently puchased 6 boxes of the original set and all I got were common costume and props.  I knew I shouldn't have bought the boxes, but I love opening the packs!

I also bought cases and individual boxes of the update set (hoping to pull a triple auto - it didn't happen).  In the beginning it's fun because you're pulling cards you don't have, but after a while you keep pulling the same cards.  It gets real disappointing :'(!  If you don't believe me, look at my spares list in Diagon Alley!  It's also very expensive (I have the Visa bill to prove it)!

Good luck with your Emma collection!

[kbmum]

If you like the thrill of opening packs, you could buy just one box.  I've seen prices below $60 on eBay.  It seems to me that the people who were happiest with their boxes bought less than a case (10 boxes).  But for the rest of your collection, buying the individual cards is the way to go.

You mentioned you don't care for eBay.  Why not take a look at the sale/trade posts in the Diagon Alley section of the forum?  I think most people are willing to entertain cash offers for their cards, even if they want to trade.  You might be able to get most of the cards you want from one or two forum members, and avoid eBay entirely.  As Roz said, you can use the price guide to get an idea of what others are paying for their cards.

Welcome to the forum!

[emmafan]

I'd like to thank all of you.......everyone has been so helpful after my first post that I am certainly interested in getting more involved in this forum.  When I first stumbled upon these cards on ebay, I didn't think I would have anyone else to share the joy of a collection with.  But you are all so enthusiastic, that it makes me want to buy that first box as soon as I can.  

I'm now a 21 year old college student, and I've been out of the trading card loop for sometime now.  When I was much younger, I spent the largest portion of my money on comic cards (DC and Marvel Comics) and Basketball cards.  Amassing thousands of cards and many complete sets, I look at them now and realize that they have no monetary value, but are invaluable in my memory of the thrill of collecting.  It has been several years since I have even opened a pack of cards, it just seemed that I had little interest or knowledge of the sets that were released (and the majority of my money was funneled into video games).  But when I saw these cards, their was something different about them, and I just have the most incredible urge to rip some of those packs open to see what secrets lay inside.......just like the good old days.

When I was younger, I couldn't wait for the days when I would be able to  afford purchasing large quantities of cards.  I had forgotten that dream until now......and as I do have a somewhat steady job in between classes, I hope I can make the kid inside me happy.  

Any thoughts or info on future Harry Potter card sets or releases?  I have read through much of the forums and learned a great deal.  But I am thinking about collecting a few of the cards or grabbing a box or two from the POA releases, but really saving my money up for GOF.   If I do that, then I think I could buy a case or two and really enjoy the collecting and opening of hundreds of packs.  I don't know if GOF will have the same popularity/design/beauty/inserts of these sets, so I am somewhat hesitant in waiting.  

Thanks a ton everyone...........I'm having alot of fun with this.  I 'm going to take your advice and look for a few signles of hermione that I like.  In addition I hope to buy a box or two to just get my hands on some of these well designed cards.  Take care everyone.......talk to you soon.

[emmafan]

Haha, I guess I just love these long posts...........just so much to say, and not enough room to place it.

[rns91294]

When I first stumbled upon these cards on ebay, I didn't think I would have anyone else to share the joy of a collection with.  But you are all so enthusiastic, that it makes me want to buy that first box as soon as I can.  

That is how I discovered them with my husband.  We aren't too much older than you and since we have all these bills to pay, I am struggling to get these cards since I am completely broke.  But once we saw them (the first we saw was Hermione's pink sweater) we were hooked.  Now, hundreds of dollars later...........

I stumbled across this forum and think I have actually met one of my closest friends on it.  It is wonderful to find other people who share the joy of collecting these cards.  especially since we are all adults.  I thought people would think I was crazy wanting to collect HP cards. But everyone here is wonderful, as you already found out.

Any thoughts or info on future Harry Potter card sets or releases?  I have read through much of the forums and learned a great deal.  But I am thinking about collecting a few of the cards or grabbing a box or two from the POA releases, but really saving my money up for GOF.   If I do that, then I think I could buy a case or two and really enjoy the collecting and opening of hundreds of packs.  I don't know if GOF will have the same popularity/design/beauty/inserts of these sets, so I am somewhat hesitant in waiting.  

I would definitely buy a box or two from this set.  That will give you a full base set and a couple nice inserts, at least.  Then, buy the ones you really want and save the rest of your money for GOF.  I think Artbox will do the same for GoF as they did PoA and I think it too will be a nice looking set of cards.   You may even want to buy a base set from the original PoA release just to have them.

It is funny you mention saving your money for GoF, as I like to say the same thing, but I have learned, with my terrible addiction to these cards, I don't even know what saving money is anymore

[blackcat20]

Well, Ive just busted open my fifth and final box, after having it sitting on the lounge room floor since November.

I got four foils
Film Card (Buckbeak flying, cells of Prof Trelawny) #105/900
Sleeping bag 677/1980

Also had a pack with only five cards, so I have a feeling something is missing. The last box like this had film card, costume card and auto, though this one seems to be missing a foil...
I also wasnt able to make a single complete base set...

[emmafan]

I picked up two boxes off of Ebay last Thursday(thanks to all of you that messaged me about auctions) and am still waiting for them to arrive from Floriday (I live in Virginia, so it shouldnt be much longer).
I can't even begin to explain how excited I am to tear them open and really start up my collection.  
Blackcat,  I really hope that I'm able to pull a costume and auto in one of my boxes!  Just praying that they aren't both duds.....lol.
Take care all......
Aaron

[Roz]

Wow congratulations.

Good luck and let us know how you do

[blackcat20]

Blackcat,  I really hope that I'm able to pull a costume and auto in one of my boxes!  Just praying that they aren't both duds.....lol.

I only opened five boxes, and got at least one insert in each box.  Mostly high production number costume cards, but its better then nothing. Good luck, and enjoy the opening-thats what keeps me buying more boxes, even when is probably cheeper just to buy the cards I want  

[emmafan]

I agree 100%.....
I love that thrill of opening a pack.....each one could have anything inside.  I'm hoping to save up and purchase 2 or 3 cases for the next set (GoF I'm thinking).  But I suppose that all depends on what kind of inserts will be offered.  If the costume and auto cards are as nice as this set, I'm a little worried that I will have empty pockets come November.  

can't wait for the package to arrive.........any day now. lol
Aaron

[rns91294]

enjoy the opening-thats what keeps me buying more boxes, even when is probably cheeper just to buy the cards I want  

Yup, me too.  I can't wait for the card show so that I can buy more boxes, even though I am at the point where I may end up getting duplicates, but I would be able to sell or trade, I'm sure.