Rare Duelist life counters

[mykbuckley]

Does anyone know if these were ever in production or just a test run as the lister says. Any info would be appreciated.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1

Thanks
Mike

Description
DECKMASTER, Wizards of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering, The Duelist magazine figures
These figures were made for "The Duelist," the official magazine of the Deckmaster card game by Wizards of the Coast. Only a few were made after a production run was scrapped. They belonged to the editor. There are two identical pieces, each with two wizards performing spells. Also in the box are four abacus-like rods with beads. One of the rods' ends has come off, and will need some attention, but the end has been taped on so it won't get lost in shipping.

[hammr7]

They certainly seem to be real, and I am 95% certain they never got even regional distribution. I would love to see more detailed photos, but from what is shown the following observations seem appropriate.

The strings of counters appear almost identical to those found in the abacus-style Reaper counters of the 1995-1998 period. It appears that someone took and added colored beads at the ends to seal them. It would be easy enough to check these out to see if they are identical in length and construction of the counters.

The Reapers TM seen on the base appears somewhat similar to the notation on the 1995 (initial) version of the abacus counter. The mana symbols also seem similar. I'm not sure about the little circle after the TM, as that doesn't seem to show up on any other Reaper items from the time period.

This might be one type of prototype that was evaluated before the metal abacus counters were chosen and issued. Companies will often create up to 10 alternatives before choosing to go to production with one. I would guess this never got beyond early prototyping, based upon the unpolished look to the end beads.

If you were the winner of this auction, and are interested in selling them, please let me know. If you can get better photos, showing more details, and can describe the materials of construction I might be able to offer more insights.