Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

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ende73
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Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by ende73 » Wed Jan 05, 2005 7:26 pm

Hello,

I just acquired this card:

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As you can see it's an Alpha Black Lotus signed by both Christopher Rush and Richard Garfield, with a significant art-alteration.

I know all you Mint-card collectors will turn their heads away, but unfortunately I have this sort of fetish for Signed and Altered cards  [smiley=cheeky.gif]

Anyway, to get to the point: I have a very vague reminiscence of having read something about exactly this very card some time ago (several years back, actually), in particular concerning its history (like who drew the monster and why etc. etc.).

Since I have a chance to speak to the world's greatest MTG experts, any insights or curiosities about the story of this card would be appreciated  :D

Thanks
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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by l0qii » Wed Jan 05, 2005 8:31 pm

Congrats, that's a really nice card.

I have a question about Garfield sigs in general. Has he ever been known to dot his i's? I have several cards signed by him and in only one are his i's dotted. It makes me suspicious.
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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by dragsamou » Wed Jan 05, 2005 8:40 pm

Congrats, that's a really nice card.

I have a question about Garfield sigs in general. Has he ever been known to dot his i's? I have several cards signed by him and in only one are his i's dotted. It makes me suspicious.
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I have a bunch of Richard Sigs...None have a dot.
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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by mintcollector » Wed Jan 05, 2005 8:50 pm

Although I am not a sig collector, I have seen enough Christopher Rush sigs to say that it looks authentic.  I will say that he has usually used better pens in the past and I am not used to seeing through his sigs.  Garfield's sig is always a scribbly mess that differs enough that they are not consistent to compare exactly.

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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by ende73 » Wed Jan 05, 2005 8:58 pm

Although I am not a sig collector, I have seen enough Christopher Rush sigs to say that it looks authentic.  I will say that he has usually used better pens in the past and I am not used to seeing through his sigs.  Garfield's sig is always a scribbly mess that differs enough that they are not consistent to compare exactly.

Thanks for checking the signatures for me.
Actually I was pretty sure about Garfield's (never saw dotted i's myself either), while Rush's is slightly different than other cards I have (my Beta Black Lotus and SCAN of textless Lightning Bolt  :P), but I also agree it's authentic after all and just made with a not-so-good pen.

I keep wondering who drew the monster though ? I'd believe Rush obviously, but it looks like the "good" pen was used to draw it  ???
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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by Arkeld » Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:46 pm

First of all, congratulations on getting this card, it's superb. If you ever feel like selling it, contact me, I'd be interested... a lot. ;)

As for the signatures, they both seem genuine. Generally speaking, I wouldn't doubt signatures on Beta or Alpha power as it would be extremely foolhardy to try and fake one. If you botch it, you've just lost a LOT of money.

I don't see a problem with the pen seeming lighter on Rush's signature than on the art. Perhaps the pen was a bit dry so when he jotted down the signature, it ended up light but when he did the art, which most certainly he did with much slower strokes, it came through darker.

edit: the creature looks a bit like a Rukh from Rukh Egg. Also, to be sure, try emailing Chris. I'm sure he'll be glad to help.

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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by ende73 » Wed Jan 05, 2005 10:04 pm

First of all, congratulations on getting this card, it's superb. If you ever feel like selling it, contact me, I'd be interested... a lot. ;)

As for the signatures, they both seem genuine. Generally speaking, I wouldn't doubt signatures on Beta or Alpha power as it would be extremely foolhardy to try and fake one. If you botch it, you've just lost a LOT of money.

I don't see a problem with the pen seeming lighter on Rush's signature than on the art. Perhaps the pen was a bit dry so when he jotted down the signature, it ended up light but when he did the art, which most certainly he did with much slower strokes, it came through darker.

edit: the creature looks a bit like a Rukh from Rukh Egg. Also, to be sure, try emailing Chris. I'm sure he'll be glad to help.

Thanks for all this info  :)

I recall seeing all sorts of contact info for the Artists somewhere but can't locate it now... does anybody have that e-mail address handy ?
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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by TerraFrost » Wed Jan 05, 2005 10:35 pm

here's the thread:

http://www.magiclibrary.net/cgi-bin/yab ... 33;start=0

Chris's contact info:
anyway, to reiterate what others have said, nice find! :)
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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by l0qii » Wed Jan 05, 2005 10:50 pm



Thanks for checking the signatures for me.
Actually I was pretty sure about Garfield's (never saw dotted i's myself either), while Rush's is slightly different than other cards I have (my Beta Black Lotus and SCAN of textless Lightning Bolt  :P), but I also agree it's authentic
I don't have any doubt that the 2 sigs on your card are authentic. I was just concerned about Garfield sigs in general.
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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by flatmatt » Wed Jan 05, 2005 10:52 pm

I like it.  And the Chris Rush signature looks like his others to me.

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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by notsofasteddie » Thu Jan 06, 2005 2:47 am

I have eight cards with Richard Garfield's signature from a variety of sources - Three (3) with dotted i and Five (5) without.

I think that this is a better guide to the Artist Contact List than the URL listed above

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=240651

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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by l0qii » Thu Jan 06, 2005 4:21 am

I have eight cards with Richard Garfield's signature from a variety of sources - Three (3) with dotted i and Five (5) without.
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Thank you! It's good to know I'm not hte only one. Can I ask which cards have the i's? Are they older cards? Is it possible I could get scans? You can PM them to me if you want.
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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by notsofasteddie » Thu Jan 06, 2005 4:32 am

The three (3) cards that have the dotted i are:

Chromium from Legends
Serrated Arrows from Homelands
Reckless Assault from Visions

If you still want scans let me know, I'll have to get on my wife's computer as she is the one with the scanner.

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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by Muldoon » Thu Jan 06, 2005 4:49 am

I have definately seen this exact lotus somewhere before, but I have no idea where... Has it been on eBay in the past years?
In any case, congratulations on the buy, regardless of shape it's an AWSOME card :)
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Re: Signed and Altered Alpha Blac Lotus

Post by ende73 » Thu Jan 06, 2005 8:47 pm

Thanks everybody for all the useful info, and also for all the congrats (in fact I'm quite proud of this card, even though it's no more than Fine condition).

I just tried getting an e-mail across and will let you know about the answer.

The fact is that the very vague memories I have, which I mentioned above, are related to the fact that the monster was maybe drawn by Garfield and not Rush.

Do you consider this possible ?
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