Thursday, November 25, 2010

The next giveaway - What are the choices again?

Welcome back to the latest installment of "I'm giving away random M:TG related items that I happen to have lying around my house, and you get to help pick what goes next." Winner of the "Reality show with the longest name" award for 2010.

This go-round your choices are as follows (see the poll above for your chance to vote):
  1. A random box-topper from the 3 I have remaining (Ambition's Cost, Avatar of Hope or Underworld Dreams - all 8th Edition). See this earlier post for details on what a box-topper is if you don't already know.
  2. The Tahngarth life-counter card from The Duelist issue #31. More details (including what it looks like) can be found in this entry at the Magic Librarities.
  3. An unopened pack of 8 Double-Sided Tokens. At the risk of sending business to another store, this store is selling them if you want to see what they look like. I have several packs of these to give away.
  4. An Ultra Pro Dual Life Counter featuring art by Elmore (the "Dragon Rider" version seen in this search). I've got two of these to give away, ultimately.
Those are the options this time (to be given away by random drawing to a subscribed to my email newsletter [sign up at www.DonsMagicAndSundry.com] on Thursday, December 9, 2010). Future choices will probably include the very oversized Thorn Elemental promo card from Starter 1999, a Lorwyn playmat as well as more Fallen Empires tokens & counters from The Duelist.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Another mystery signature...

Here's another mystery signature. I have four copies of this Wall of Roots (from Mirage) with a signature (initials, really) that looks like "LB":

But the artist on this card is John Matson, whose initials are clearly not "LB". And it just so happens that I have another card from Mirage, Purraj of Urborg, with art by John Matson that is signed by him:

So I think it is quite clear that the Wall of Roots signature is not Mr. Matson's. So, whose signature is it? Any ideas?

Can you help me ID these?

Okay, here's the deal. I just got done processing a bunch of photos of what I am calling "Specialty Cards". These are cards that are signed (some non-English), or misprinted, or miscut, or crimped, etc. In other words, cards that appeal to a more limited audience than your normal Magic cards.

While working on these, I came across three cards that have proven themselves a mystery to me. The biggest problem with the signed cards is that all of these have come to me from collections that I have bought in the past. This means that I cannot, 100% for certain, verify that the signatures are indeed the actual signatures of the artists involved. I will be certain to state such when I list them - I don't want to mislead anyone.

But these three cards CLEARLY are not signed by their artists. The signature is identical, but all three have different artists. Instead, I figure these may be signed by someone "famous" to Magic, perhaps even the designer of the card.

That's where you, hopefully, come in. Can you identify whose signature appears on these three cards? Please comment to the post if you have any ideas or suggestions!