[Guest]

I saw the Two Towers Sets at those prices too and the one in WHS was thirty quid prior to the ROTK Set being released and I think it was a bit higher afterwards ... not 100% on that but I heard someone comment on the price as they walked past it.
A friend of mine up in Leeds got me a second TTT Set a few months ago and I bet there'll be people quietly kicking themselves that they didn't get them to sell on later at a profit.
The Derby HMV used to stock all the LOTR merchandise ... t-shirts, mugs, glasses etc, the same with Another World before they sold out to Forbidden Planet ~ neither carry those items anymore. Virgin used to have some stuff but the shop's gone altogether!
I feel like I'm living in a LOTR void here!!
The nearest place which has any kind of selection is the Cinema Store over in Nottingham and they're expensive.
Small wonder I get most items from eBay then is it?

I do think that the ROTK Set was released in much smaller quantities worldwide and I'd be very interested to know a figure on that amount.

From what I've seen on eBay the UK (PAL) versions of the EEs must be fairly short production as they sell for quite a pretty penny (or is that a pence?). Here in the US I still regularly see FOTR EE Gift Sets at Mall stores as well as TT ones so it seems they produced more than enough to meet demand here. I think they underestimate Brits mania for LOTR in this case bigtime. Y'all seem to be a market unto yourselves over there, I'm constantly amazed at some of the cool stuff you get over there, I get many packages from eBay stuff from the UK let me tell you!

QB

Ha! You're right there Roz!
I'm just quietly cursing my inertia over ordering Minas Morgul as it looks stunning ... hey ho!

 I am only now seeing this thread and reading your posts was like watching a car accident that you know is going to happen in slow motion and there is not a thing you can do about it! Truly painful. I was practically screaming as I scrolled, ORDER!! ORDER!! Truly painful.
  My wife and I ordered our Minas Morgul at about 12:25 am In the 17th, I was one of the wierdos waiting at Midnight at Walmart for it. Actually I was the only one...
  We wanted to get in before they ran out of the Elessar crowns, had no idea they would sell out the Minas Morgul so quickly.  
  We learned our lesson from the Sideshow/Weta Elessar Statue, we were not particularly moved to buy from the early images they showed of it and decided to wait and see better pics. The piece sold out and a week or so later THEN they showed pics of it and it was GORGEOUS!!! We sulked for months as presells on eBay topped 300+ dollars for them and resigned ourselves to never having one. Then the light of the Valar shown down upon us and the New Line Shop offered them  upon rlease (I guess they don't do presells) and we were able to snag one for original retail price with free shipping and no tax!!! Cheaper than it would have been from Sideshow!!! We learned our lesson and gladly did not have to pay dearly for our procrastination.

QB

Yep, I do think that the FOTR autos are going to show up less and less on eBay as well as even the 2000 or so of the common autos have pretty much filtered down into collector hands.  
  I don't ever plan to sell any of my autos save one which I have been holding for just that purpose when the time is right..........

QB

Wow! That is good news! I'd love a set with sketch cards, the Star Wars Heritage has been my intro to this type of chase card and I am hooked!

QB

The top brown section is a rough kind of velvet, lower grayish section is smooth with a puffed out applique type stitching. Weirdest one I've seen! My buddy pulled this one and gave it to me for my wife's Eowyn shrine.

QB

Does anyone have an extra SWH sketch card.. looking for a cheap one or I have a few questions about them. What kind of card is it for the pen/pencil/maeker to be used? and do they coat them after the drawing is on there?

Looking for a way to see what the cards really are wouldnt mind having a cheap cheap one ( bid on one for like a buck on ebay) but the card might get ruined in my lookings

anyone have one or able to tell me about them some more?

The stock the cards is printed on is matte white on the drawing side and 4 color printed and gloss coated on the opposite side. The cards are not coated after the sketch is put on them, I just erased a Randy Martinez sketch yesterday and it came pretty clean. I plan to have a special sketch done for me by one of the artists either at Megacon or Dragon Con next year. I'll be looking to get a nice pen and ink or full color done for me by somebody who was not on the official list, should be a neat piece!

If you are looking for a cheap sketch on eBay I'd recommend looking specifically for Martinez sketches, they are common and most are really poor in my opinion. Most are closing at under 10 bucks. If you'd like a nice pen and ink sketch for not much money take a look at Matt Busch's, he did a very nice job on his and many close at under 20 dollars.

QB

MINE! MINE MINE!!!! My wife is going to kill me when she sees my credit card statement this month but this was too gorgeous to pass up. I figured if I bought 2-3 boxes (sketch cost $125 dollars US) I'd NEVER pull a sketch this sweet!





That's a Corroney isn't it?

She might let me live when she finds THIS in her Christmas Stocking  

Yeah I had a question about the Martinez sketches. Did he do all his sketches in pencil? I notice that his sketches are usually very cheap and I'd be willing to buy one for 10 bucks or so if I could erase his sketch with a kneaded eraser. Then I'd have a nifty blank to take to a comic convention and get a decent sketch on!

QB

(yeah I finally made it over here!)