OT: Anyone collect lobby cards (CGC grades them):

[mintcollector]

Note to mods: Please keep this in the Comics General forum, as I want to know if any fellow comic book collectors collect these as your company specifically grades them!

 

Hello! I started getting into CGC graded lobby cards! Anyone else collect these? I already had several sets for a lot of different movies, but started to get more involved because I bought a 'rare' movie poster that made me think of this collection. From what I am seeing, a lot of interest is occurring in this realm especially with Heritage holding a premier auction fairly soon.

 

I only wish CGC would grade and encapsulate movie posters as well. This would work very well in my opinion (if done right).

 

Anyone else collect these?

[Spideydan]

I also would like CGC to grade inserts,half sheets and 1 sheets. From what I can tell the Movie Poster collecting community for these larger poster sizes always seems a little negative towards Grading these. But it would certainly help the value of the rare Classic Monster and Sci Fi posters when the census figures are finally tallied.

[Larryw7]

I used to collect lobby cards as a kid.I still occasionally buy reproductions of them, which look almost like the real thing. CGC can be very useful for movie paper, because they're so easy to forge. A lot of people were ripped off a few years ago by someone selling counterfeit posters from the Universal Horror classics for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

[Bookery]

I carry lobby cards in my shop (have thousands to go through yet), though I doubt any more than a few are valuable enough to be worth grading. But I've wondered about this. The binder holes in the holders put me off a bit... are these holders stiff enough that customers can flip through them in boxes? The site says they do sets too... how does this work? Are only 2 cards chosen to display, I presume?

 

Slabbed lobby cards actually makes even more sense to me than slabbed comics, but I've just not made the leap yet to try them.

[mintcollector]

I carry lobby cards in my shop (have thousands to go through yet), though I doubt any more than a few are valuable enough to be worth grading. But I've wondered about this. The binder holes in the holders put me off a bit... are these holders stiff enough that customers can flip through them in boxes? The site says they do sets too... how does this work? Are only 2 cards chosen to display, I presume?

 

Slabbed lobby cards actually makes even more sense to me than slabbed comics, but I've just not made the leap yet to try them.

 

I just bought a copy of sets of really grade CGC graded lobby cards. They are great and I can confirm that the binder holes actually help for both displaying on a wall or for storage. It actually was a great idea on CGC's part.

 

 

[seanfingh]

I have a couple. I use them when I can't track down a comic or magazine for people to sign. My favorite has a big chunk of the cast of Revenge of the Nerds.

[comicwiz]

This thread reminded me I have a few from a collection I acquired years ago. I vaguely recall seeing a Robby robot in one of them, so one might be for Forbidden Planets, but not sure.

[Ares]

What do the lobby cards look like?

[999ghosts]

I would if there was more choice and less overpriced...

[GACollectibles]

are these holders stiff enough that customers can flip through them in boxes?

 

Yes, they are semi-rigid and would hold up for flipping through.

 

On the sets I believe they encapsulate each one individually, not bundled so you just see front and back card, though I've never graded a set.

 

For a while CGC was grading mini-lobby cards for Signature Series (no grade, which was nice) then changed the designation to Movie Still . At the time they wouldn't do SS for full size lobby cards but that might have changed, there was some talk about the infrastructure being present in the software to support it. Signed lobby cards definitely offer a nice alternative when there may not be an ideal comic available.

 

Margot Kidder

 

David Naughton

 

Nancy Allen

[GACollectibles]

I have a couple. I use them when I can't track down a comic or magazine for people to sign. My favorite has a big chunk of the cast of Revenge of the Nerds.

 

 

[mintcollector]

The hobby is growing thanks in part to CGC grading and auction companies like Heritage empasizing te collectibility if these.

 

To answer the question as to what these are; they are much like movie posters except smaller. Generally, they were released in sets of four or eight, with each piece in the series showing a different scene from the movie in question. They are called lobby cards because they were usually displayed in movie theater lobbies and not for window or poster displays. Most are roughly 11 by 14 inches and you can buy full sets. CGC encapsulates each card separately and for some popular older movies it is near impossible to find a complete set. The Forbidden Planet is a very popular classic movie and as such the lobby cars are very hard to find in high grade.

 

 

[Davenport]

Are lobby cards studio-stamped on the back?

 

I remember some late eighties / early nineties shows where multiple dealers had huge offerings of this kind of stuff. I always assumed they acquired or created negatives to constantly replenish their stock. Probably a dumb assumption, but it seemed an obvious one since there was so much of it show after show. That, and I thought photo-print items would probably be the easiest of all collectibles to replicate.

[PovertyRow]

Are lobby cards studio-stamped on the back?

 

I remember some late eighties / early nineties shows where multiple dealers had huge offerings of this kind of stuff. I always assumed they acquired or created negatives to constantly replenish their stock. Probably a dumb assumption, but it seemed an obvious one since there was so much of it show after show. That, and I thought photo-print items would probably be the easiest of all collectibles to replicate.

 

I collected horror/sci from the 1930s through mid-60s. The cards were not studio stamped on the back. There would be an imprinted studio copyright on the front, usually at the lower left border. In those days U.S. posters and cards were produced by NSS (National Screen Services). In the middle would usually be a number from 1 - 8, indicating the sequence in the set (they were 8 card sets).

 

At the lower right border would be a number like 122/45. This would mean the 122nd film NSS made a poster for that year and it was made in 1945.Some folks say the first number is the bin/shelf they were stored in, but that tends to equate to the same thing as the first poster set printed would most likely be in bin #1, the 2nd in bin #2 etc..

 

Sometimes there was a TITLE Card for card #1. Rather than a photo the title card would be a small version of the poster artwork. Title cards are usually (but not always), the most valuable card in the set. But a #1 card that is just a photo is not a title card. It needs the poster art.

 

One thing I like about the concept of the CGC graded cards is they really assist in framing. The card is protected by the encapsulation and it is very easy to tape it to a backing board. A matte over the card hides any signs of the label etc.

[PovertyRow]

Are lobby cards studio-stamped on the back?

 

I remember some late eighties / early nineties shows where multiple dealers had huge offerings of this kind of stuff. I always assumed they acquired or created negatives to constantly replenish their stock. Probably a dumb assumption, but it seemed an obvious one since there was so much of it show after show. That, and I thought photo-print items would probably be the easiest of all collectibles to replicate.

 

It sounds like you are confusing lobby cards with Studio Stills. Sometimes the lobby cards would have the same or a similar image to some of the studio stills. CGC grades the stills as well and uses different color labels to indicate the generation.

[seanfingh]

I have a couple. I use them when I can't track down a comic or magazine for people to sign. My favorite has a big chunk of the cast of Revenge of the Nerds.

 

 

 

[Mattk3447]

This summer I submitted my first autographed lobby card to Cgc. It came back with a yellow label but without a grade. I see on eBay people are selling lobby cards that have a blue label and a grade. Why do blue labeled lobby cards have grade and yellow label lobby cards don't?