An introduction to "high-end" sketch card midnight madness.

[Rian Fike]

Hello Blowout!!!

Tomorrow night is a BIG PARTY, and you are all invited. Rittenhouse is releasing a new set of Marvel cards with one sketch card per box.

For those of us who collect "high-end" sketch cards, there is a mad scramble at midnight on release day and it is one of the most thrilling nights of the year.

There are a couple dealers that do a sort of "invitation only" sale for the first day, and I have never had enough money to become a big enough buyer to make it on those lists. A few of the regular dealers seem to have dropped out this time around, due to the fact that the market is pretty heavily saturated now - to the point that the "low end" sketches are selling for less than $20 each.

What are the "high-end" sketches that will be snapped up tomorrow at full value immediately after they get posted on ebay or dealer sites? I will give you my cheat sheet, since I am badly tapped out and cannot afford anything more than a miracle this round. This is the artist list, and I am placing parenthesis around every artist that will command $100 or more for a single sketch card:

SKETCH ARTISTS (Checklist subject to change without notice)

Arists names marked with a * are new to Rittenhouse Archives.

Adam Cleveland
(Adam Cline) *
Al de Stefano
Albert Morales
Alberto Silva
Alcione da Silva
Alex Magno
Allen Geneta
André Toma
(Andy Price)
(Anthony Tan)
Apriyadi Kusbiantoro
Arie Monroe
Arley Tucker
Babisu Kourtis *
Bienifer Flores *
Bill Pulkovski
Bob Layton
Brian Shearer
Buddy Prince
Budi Setiawan
Butch Mapa
Caio Majado
Cal Slayton
Cezar Razek
(Charles Hall)
(Chris Bradberry)
Chris Foreman
Chris Marrinan
Chris Moreno
Chuck George
Claire Pacheco
Dan Borgonos
Daniel HDR
Danielle Gransaull
Darren Chandler
Darryl Banks
Denver Brubaker
Eric McConnell
Frank Kadar
Fred Hembeck *
George Calloway
Greg Kirkpatrick
Hanie Mohd
Irma Ahmed
J. David Lee
(Jack Redd)
Jader Correa
Jake Sumbing
Jason Davies
Jason Potratz
Jason Sobol
Javier Gonzalez
Jay Fosgitt
Jayson Kretzer
JC Fabul
Jeanette Swift
Jeff Zapata *
Jeremy Treece
Jim Kyle
Joe Pekar
Joe St. Pierre
John Czop
John Haun
John Jackman
Jomar Bulda
Jon Hughes
Joseph O'Brien
Juan Fontanez
Julius Dean Abrera *
Justin Chung
(Katie Cook)
Kevin West
Kristin Allen
Lee Kohse
Leeahd Goldberg
Lui Antonio
Lynne Anderson
Marc Nguyen
Marcelo Ferreira
Mark Dos Santos
Mark Marvida
Mark Texeira
Mary Bellamy
Mary Jane Dizon Pajaron *
Matias Streb
Mauricio Dias
Mauro Fodra
(Meghan Hetrick)
(Melike Acar)
Michael Sta. Maria
Mike Kaluta *
Mike Rooth
Mitch Ballard *
MJ San Juan
Nestor Celario
Newton Barbosa
Noah Salonga
Norman Jim Faustino *
Noval Hernawan
Pablo Marcos
(Patrick Larcada)
Raimundo Nonato
Rainier Lagunsad
Randy Monces
Rhiannon Owens
Rich Hennemann *
Rich Molinelli
Rich Woodall *
Rodjer Goulart
Rodrigo Martins
Roy Cover
Saiful Remy Mokhatar
Sam Argo
Sara Richard
Scott Alan Gregroy *
Scott Rorie
Sean Moore
Stacey Kardash
Stefanie Battalene
Studio Mia *
Thanh Bui
Tim Shay
Tone Rodriquez
(Tony Perna)
Tony Scott
Veronica O'Connell *
Warren Martineck
Wendell Rubio Silva

***************************************

There are about 10 more names that will bring $100 or more for specific cards. Values fluctuate wildly, especially with so much new blood in the pool. It's a great time to be alive, collecting cards.

Good luck to all.

[monkeymcgee]

Thanks for sharing your info--that's a nice list of artists

After my Premier binge, I think I'll be mostly sitting this out, but I look forward to seeing what gets pulled

[101stLee]

You rock! This definitly helps me out decide if I want to buy a case of this or not! I'm looking forward to buyin one, but I'm afraid I'll miss out on the "good" artists since I cannot afford this until 14 December!! What do you think? Do I still have a chance to pull nice artists? Or are they #'d 1/1 etc.. like Football cards?

[mwheeler27]

No Sean Pence.

[dd316]

I don't quite understand what this is.... Rittenhouse will be selling sketch cards on Ebay for less than $20 each at midnight because dealers backed out?

[mcguirem13]

Not Rittenhouse themselves. Some dealers who buy a TON of their product are busting thousands of boxes and are listing them for sale all at the same time.

[101stLee]

Originally Posted by dd316

I don't quite understand what this is.... Rittenhouse will be selling sketch cards on Ebay for less than $20 each at midnight because dealers backed out?

Not 100% sure! I'm asking the same?

[Rian Fike]

Originally Posted by dd316

I don't quite understand what this is.... Rittenhouse will be selling sketch cards on Ebay for less than $20 each at midnight because dealers backed out?

No. Rittenhouse does not sell sketches directly.

Dealers will be opening at least 3000 boxes tomorrow, and there will be around 1000 sketches revealed and for sale on eBay starting at midnight on Tuesday - the first day of release. Other dealers will have their sketches on their own sites. By the end of the week, there will be 3000 sketches revealed and available for sale. Hundreds will already be sold, many of them within minutes.

[Rian Fike]

Originally Posted by 101stLee

You rock! This definitly helps me out decide if I want to buy a case of this or not! I'm looking forward to buyin one, but I'm afraid I'll miss out on the "good" artists since I cannot afford this until 14 December!! What do you think? Do I still have a chance to pull nice artists? Or are they #'d 1/1 etc.. like Football cards?

You have the same chance as everyone else with boxes and cases, all the "high-end" artists do dozens of cards each.

I am not lucky with boxes or cases, so I always buy singles.

Boxes and cases, of course, will also contain base sets and other inserts.

[dd316]

Originally Posted by Rian Fike

No. Rittenhouse does not sell sketches directly.

Dealers will be opening at least 3000 boxes tomorrow, and there will be around 1000 sketches revealed and for sale on eBay starting at midnight on Tuesday - the first day of release. Other dealers will have their sketches on their own sites. By the end of the week, there will be 3000 sketches revealed and available for sale. Hundreds will already be sold, many of them within minutes.

So this is pretty much what happens with every release, right? The way it's presented above it sounds like this is some kind of super special deal this time around.

[Rian Fike]

Originally Posted by dd316

So this is pretty much what happens with every release, right? The way it's presented above it sounds like this is some kind of super special deal this time around.

I didn't mean to present it like that. It happens every time Rittenhouse releases a set.

With Upper Deck, the sketches trickle out. With Rittenhouse, they all explode into the market at once.

[jadams]

[Rian Fike]

There are quite a few new artists, and if any of them combine pure drawing skill with exquisite detail and dynamic composition, they may be immediately included in the "high-end" category.

Actual sales are the true test.

I am most excited to see the Adam Cline cards myself. His style is insanely original yet simple, and this is his first Rittenhouse set. It will be a bizarre ride to the Cline side!

[101stLee]

Ugh, why do they do that? It seems they get first "dibs" before us regular folks.. Anyone agree?

[mcguirem13]

Originally Posted by Rian Fike

There are quite a few new artists, and if any of them combine pure drawing skill with exquisite detail and dynamic composition, they may be immediately included in the "high-end" category.

Actual sales are the true test.

I am most excited to see the Adam Cline cards myself. His style is insanely original yet simple, and this is his first Rittenhouse set. It will be a bizarre ride to the Cline side!

I just looked up Adam Cline's facebook page and I really like his style. I wouldn't mind pulling one his sketches

[Igman7]

Originally Posted by Rian Fike

You have the same chance as everyone else with boxes and cases, all the "high-end" artists do dozens of cards each.

Apparently you have never noted just how "above odds" that the big 3 end up pulling with their 100+ case orders.

The mega busters (Yuri, Kevin, etc) have all of their product busted already and are preparing their "madness" sales as we type.

[Rian Fike]

Originally Posted by 101stLee

Ugh, why do they do that? It seems they get first "dibs" before us regular folks.. Anyone agree?

The cards that are available on eBay are available equally.

Some of the dealers who sell outside of eBay have a preferred buyer list because those buyers have spent thousands of dollars with them in the past.

The "high-end" buyers seem to always have thousands to spend, so it makes sense to make them happy and loyal.

That is just the system that has evolved over a few years, for better or worse. I have always been able to find the artists and characters I want, with a few exceptions. It is a thrilling treasure hunt at midnight, for sure.

[Rian Fike]

Originally Posted by Igman7

Apparently you have never noted just how "above odds" that the big 3 end up pulling with their 100+ case orders.

I haven't studied it, but I have seen them also miss out on certain artists pretty heavily. Opening 200 cases is sure to hit all the artists, and it is sure to hit certain artists more frequently, but it could still be random luck.

I will look closer this time, since I don't have money to hunt with!

[katzky]

It isn't random. I've opened 18 + cases of Mars Attacks and have not pulled a "big name" artist yet.... and several artists, having only created 100 cards, I have pulled 6!

Random? Not likely...

[Rian Fike]

One more thing that the new collectors need to keep in mind.

Sales prices will be at "full value" for the first couple weeks, then they will nosedive. Marvel Masters on eBay went to 70% off pretty quickly.

But.

By the time there are 2000 cards left over from the 3000 cards that originally went up for sale, the highest quality best drawings of the popular characters will be gone. The collectors with money are excellent judges of quality art. They really are.

Such a thrilling hobby. Good luck to all.

[Rian Fike]

Originally Posted by katzky

It isn't random. I've opened 18 + cases of Mars Attacks and have not pulled a "big name" artist yet.... and several artists, having only created 100 cards, I have pulled 6!

Random? Not likely...

Mars Attacks is by a different company. A very different company.

And, honestly, what you are describing could still be evidence of random distribution. It's like the lottery, it could come up 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 every single day.

[jadams]

So this "party" is actually a handful of dealers listing close to half of the available sketch cards?

Cake and Ice Cream all around.

[dd316]

Originally Posted by jadams

So this "party" is actually a handful of dealers listing close to half of the available sketch cards?

At full value. Is the excitement for this all in the availability?

[katzky]

Check out my post about this... I had two cases where each case has 8 sketch cards... 7 of the sketches in each case were the same artists. The odds of randomly creating two cases sharing 7 of 8 artists from a list of 131 is so small that its like hitting the lotto.

Originally Posted by Rian Fike

Mars Attacks is by a different company. A very different company.

And, honestly, what you are describing could still be evidence of random distribution. It's like the lottery, it could come up 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 every single day.

[monkeymcgee]

Originally Posted by dd316

At full value. Is the excitement for this all in the availability?

If you want your pick of artists or subjects, I'm guessing this is the time to grab them.

Seems like a crazy business move to me considering the case incentives I've seen don't sell for *that* much, but I guess it works if they've done this previously.