The Yak Shack Forum

Okay, I brought one of my lost costume cards in to work today to share.  Now, I know it is authentic, as Inworks could not day it is actually worn by the actor if it was not.  But a lot of people I showed this too, not being a colelctor of trading cards, and not knowing who Inkworks, or Artbox or any of those places are, stills eem a little unsure if they would trust the costume really was the same one worn by the actor.  How do you tell people like this that it really is?  I mean, I assume it is, and I trust the card company...but how do you convince someone else?

You can't. :-\  We trust the card manufacturers, because we know that their reputations are at stake.  I don't think there's any way to convince a non-collector about the authenticity of the cards.  You could maybe explain that the info on the back of the card is sort of a COA, but if they don't know what that is...

When you get right down to it, is there any way to really KNOW that a swatch is authentic?  The cards say that the costumes were worn by the actors, but what if the movie studio actually sent the card manufacturer an unused extra costume or prop?  The card companies have to have some trust with the studio or auction house it used to get the items.

i agree that they could have sent a costume that was not actually worn, but was intended to be used for the show.  Thing is, I understand, as all of us here do, that the card company could probably have a nice lawsuit if not using authentic stuff.  For example, Artbox.  Don't you think that WB would be after them for stating all that on their cards if it wasn't true?   If I did not collect, I could understand that a company wouldn't say that if it wasn't true in case they get sued.  But most people who don't collect have no idea how much is really out there card wise, or that it is such a huge hobby.  I didn't realize how big it was until I started going to shows and seeing it all.

I imagine some of the people you showed the card to thought it strange to have bits of material on a card and wouldn't be very interested whether it had been worn by *whoever* in whichever show ...

I tend not to say very much about the cards I buy to ppl I work with - there's only two who 'know' the appeal of collecting autos/costumes/prop cards because they collect themselves. The rest of my co-workers would think me totally deranged for 'wasting' money on bits of card when I could be buying clothes/make-up/booking foreign holidays etc .... things I in turn am just not interested in!!  ::) :rofl:

Those are valid points you raise though Cindy - we ALL have to trust the card manufacturers and those supplying them with the raw materials to be included in their products to be honest all the way down the line.
I feel sure some of the things we see included have come from spare swatches of material when they're supposed to have been screen worn - not all of the material but odd bits of it I'm sure!
Screen worn is good, but that could be the actor/tress body-double who has worn it during filming rather than 'the important one' him/herself!
I know certain manufacturers go as far as to state categorically on the reverse of their pieceworks cards that a named actor/actress has worn this piece of clothing during such-and-such an episode or film and I can understand why these cards command the higher prices.

I think the only way you could try and convince them of your card's authenticity is to direct them to the company's website and let them have a look through all the card sets and the Lost set in particular. Maybe that way, they would appreciate the the uniqueness of your card and the odds of actually owning  it! ;)

well, the card in particular was a pieceworks from LOST.  It does state the actor and episode on the back of the card.  Most people iIshowed it too (all LOST fans) thought it was great, and it was so neat that they made stuff like that.  But two people questioned it.  You might be right...maybe those two people wonder why you would want to cut something like that up.  Whereas other people can not believe that a small card like that actually can fit a piece of material in it and that it is really amazing. Well, I know what i think...and I guess in the end, that is all that matters.

Absolutely Sara - you know the card's worth and are fortunate enough to own it which is all that's important!! ;D ;D ;D 8)

My thoughts exactly  ;D

Some companies take the distinction between 'screen worn' and 'used in the making of' very seriously. I know that Inkworks for one have announced a certain card will be in a set and have then retracted it due to it not actually being 'screen worn' as advertised. This was for the X-Files Season 9 set:

http://www.inkworks.com/products/xfiles/xfiles9/xfiles9jacketcard.html

Although, as you can see, they didn't really need ANOTHER Skinner pieceworks ;)

Thanks!  Thing is, we all know this, but the average non-collector probably doesn't even know who Inkworks is....as in my case today.  But being a collector, that is definitely valuable information :)

Inkworks and Rittenhouse are really REALLY good about making sure the costume is authentic, I know Inkworks USED to post an actual picture of the costume, but I am not sure if they do that anymore. Rittenhouse does post pictures of the costumes, and I really like that.

Of course I do not even need to go into Artbox.
Topps on the other hand, I do not think at least, has EVER had any costume cards that are authentic screen worn costumes.

The costume cards in the X-Men 2 set were authentic costume cards but I think that was the only time to My knowledge.

I think my friends interest in my card collections would be about the same as my interest if someone showed me thier bottle cap collection.  "Uh, yeah.  That's really nice."  ::)  I showed my stuff to one of my friends and they also questioned how I know the costumes are real.  They also had no idea that auto cards were really signed by the actors.  They thought that the auto was printed on at the factory.  ;)

Ugh! Non-collectors....  ::) ::) ::) ::) ::)

Tell me about it  :rofl:

You have hit the nail on the head!! I can't think of any circumstances when I'd show my friends my normal cards, but it's their loss. I have to say though, I have some artsy friends who I'm bound to show the sketch cards from Evolution to... so we'll see :)

Just don't tell them how much you spend on them and it will be fine ;)

I don't!  If I did they would truely think I was nuts!  :rofl:

You know, it's equally difficult when asked, "So, what do you do?" and I answer "I work for a trading card company" and then you get the most odd looks? It's as if you've said -"I set fire to puppies". They don't know what to say after that. Sometimes I get "You mean like Yu-Gi-Oh?" Most times I just get silence ...

Drives me crazy - so now I say "I work in Customer Service" - it's easier and I get less weird looks. MY own family though we were nuts-  especially with both of us working for the same company, maybe we were, but it was SOO much fun to work with my husband :)

I always knew there had to be some animal sacrifice involved in creating trading cards... and possibly at Inkworks during the creation of the Buffy sets since  lots of "blood variants" turned up..

EEEEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

:o :o :o gross!! :P :rofl:

Yup - you can always count on a sleep deprived mind.