Beta Antiquities and more Uncut Sheets

[pickle.69]

I just found this on ebay

is this a sheet of uncut beta cards  ???
ADDED LATER:
Hi he does have other sheets too:

Beta:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 43218&rd=1

Antiquities:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW

Mirage:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW

Alliances Proof Sheets.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 92844&rd=1


If yes how come there are all raretys on one sheet?

Further I would like to know(think you all allready discussed this put I did not find such a topic jet):

Actually I also would like to know exactly how the card printing process works.
How cards are placed on the sheet. Which color comes first which last.  Are the same colors next to each other or cards alphabetically sorted.
I have heard different theories on this but somehow I would like to know one propper story.
thanks for help

[Muldoon]

Yes, those appear to be uncut beta sheets. There are only two rarities on each, lands and either C, UC or R :P
There were rare islands, you didn't want to pull one of those...  [smiley=veryangry.gif]
Regarding how the cards are located on the sheets, they're usually in a mess... With sets like antiquities you can sometimes see diagonal lines of the same card, if there are more than one of it on the sheet.
There's to my knowledge no sheets that are in any kind of "order".

[hammr7]

I have e-mailed the seller to find out what the backs of the sheets look like, and what kind of cardstock the sheets are made from.  I will post any reply to the forum.

I only looked at the sheets briefly, and can't easily make out all the detail.  The sheets could possibly be uncut beta (or alpha, or collector's edition).   If the card stock is thinner than usual, then the cards are definitely collector's edition.  If collector's edition, then the cards might or might not have the gold trim and lettering on the back, depending upon when the sheets were pulled.  If the sheets have regular magic card backing, then the wording on the cards, and whether or not there are copies of "beta only" cards like volcanic island, would determine whether the sheets were from alpha or beta.

Card placement on the sheets (by Wizards) was somewhat random.  There was no logic as far as cards being placed according to color or alphabetically by name.  Since there were less than 121 cards of each rarity, the sheets had basic lands placed in the extra spots.  This is why you can buy an unopened Alpha or Beta pack and get no rare in it.

[Muldoon]

It seems like a beta or CE sheet to me, I saw both the volcanic island and the extra-dark channel etc ::)
Will be interesting to know what kind of back they have, I would take these for real beta though...

[dave_the_sniper]

If they have white backs they are the early promo sheets given to us to promote a tourneys and give away. Real backs would be the real thing I would think except you would see gold borders on back with the CE of course.
Dave

[hammr7]

If they are white backed, then depending on the cardstock they could be artist proof sheets, or else something totally new.  We'll find out when the seller responds.  They are a nice item, but will likely endup beyond my price range  :-[

[dave_the_sniper]

Alpha beta it determined easily with the casting cost of the Tomb.
Remember alpha didn't have one.
Alpah and beta didn't have artist proof cards. Only printer proofs. That program wasn't set up for about another year.

I just blew up the pick and the Tomb has a casting cost so far as I can see so NOT alpha.
Dave

[Celebrindor]

I have a related question.  I know that they use "plates" to print the cards.  I would assume that they have a different plate for each color - perhaps cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, like a standard inkjet printer, right?  Or do they have some way of doing all the colors at once?  (I know that currency is printed using several different plates per bill).

[Gryfalia]

I'm confused.  I don't see mixed rarities on one sheet.

I see rares with 4-5 rare islands, uncommons and commons...

Anyway, IIRC weren't uncut sheets used as a kind of 'share' back in the day for the WotC founders?

I seem to recall that.  But what I also recall is that Beta sheets were ALSO used to place between levels of boosters/boxes/cases on pallets in the warehouse (the Gathering Ground in St Louis used to have some that were used this way.)  Now, sheets used for this were, obviously, always beat up, and these look nicer than that (indeed, the seller says 'perfect').

All that said, there's no solid reason to question them as being what he says they are, but if he had been a bit wiser, he would have contacted someone with a high feedback to sell them for him.  A feedback of 16 puts him in 'ouch' land...

And for anyone thinking about buying them and cutting them up as singles.  To make good, quality singles is 'some hard' from an uncut sheets.  Lots of people have tried with Arena sheets and been..less than successful..

Nice item tho.

Gryfalia

[dave_the_sniper]

For asthetics I would think they are worth more uncut. Screw the peope who feel a lotus is worth a grand I paid 30.00 for mine in 95. and traded for most of my other big cards I have now.
dave

[dave_the_sniper]

Cards, sheets and promo stuff was given away to early staf for payment and sharing.
Heck I have uncut sheets of Highlander rare gold cards that were given to a designer for payment before the company folded.
Dave

[Gryfalia]

For asthetics I would think they are worth more uncut. Screw the peope who feel a lotus is worth a grand I paid 30.00 for mine in 95. and traded for most of my other big cards I have now.
dave

I agree with you in principle, but a minty Beta set can be sold to DEALERS for $7000, which is way more than this is likely to go for.  Collectors can be crazy, but only a certain amount would put that kind of money down on something like this, and odds are pretty good that those people already have a set of sheets.  While we all think of the value that we paid for cards (hell, I sold my first lotus for about $25 or so), the market sets the prices at their current silly level..;-)

Gryfalia

[dave_the_sniper]

Heck that is why most that even come to my house to play don't know of all I have.

Originall when Gamma... Unlimited came out the prices dropped because the Alpha were unplayable and the beta now were reprinted.

Now it's backwards!

Heck I hate PSA as it drives the prices higher and teaches those people the cards arn't meant to be played with but only looked at.

I didn't think we were collecting non-gaming cards.
I would never pay what they want now for something I can't even play with!

Dave

[pickle.69]

I'm confused.  I don't see mixed rarities on one sheet.

I see rares with 4-5 rare islands, uncommons and commons...

Your right I messed up.
I mailed him for more pics lets awaite the backsides.

[mintcollector]

I know what these are for sure.  Carti Mundi sent WOTC print run proof sheets.  These are not the "poster-like" sheets that were given out for the fund raiser that we have seen.  These are real uncut sheets.  The reason this can be verified from the picture is that the sheets were rolled and sent in drafting tubes to WOTC.  Thus these sheets have a slight permanent curl to them due to the stock thickness of sheets.  This curl can be seen in the picture of the 3 sheets together at the bottom.  These sheets will have M:TG backs on them and can technically be "hacked" up (shudder) to try and make real cards.  These sheets ended up in the hands of WOTC founders and a few did escape to major WOTC investors. The reason I know this is my friend got 3 of these from his friend who had received 4 of these (one set was damaged along the right side of the sheets so he did not buy the fourth one as a result).  My friend spent $600 on framing these sheets in black acrylic frames with UV glass, etc making the archival safe.  He sold his framed sheets years back and got $1500 each for his sets.  My friend knows for sure that there are 12-24 of these in existance at most.  The reason for the range is that he has heard some of these were cut up, damaged, or ruined in other fashions so an exact number is hard to peg.  So for real esoteric M:TG collectors, this is a very rare find.  With the climbs in Alpha and Beta pricing I would expect these sheets to go for $5000-$6000 easy if not more.  Anyone getting them for less will be getting a REALLY good deal.