At Long Last, the Downton Abbey Master Set is Complete*

For the last couple of years my wife and I have been working hard at erasing the financial mistakes of our 20's and early 30's, when we built up a sizable amount of debt by buying silly things. In early 2015 we really got down to business and our balances began to shrink. It's been pretty slow at times but we've been chipping away at it and we've made consistent progress for the first time, paying down about 20% of our credit card balances since we began our program. It is really tough but every time we pay off another account it frees up that monthly payment for other things, so our standard of living gets better and we are able to pay down more of our balances every month. It's still embarrassing how much we pay in interest every month, but at least now we are taking productive measures to improve our position.

This brings us to a windfall we came into recently. After talking about it some we decided that most of the money would go straight to our worst debt, a credit card that has plagued us since the early days of our marriage. We should be able to pay off the balance on that card and be done with it forever with this money and our tax return. It's a pretty big deal, as cutting that balance will reduce our credit balance by another 15% or so. The other part of the plan was to set aside some spending money for each of us to celebrate the progress we've made and help us get through another year of paying down balances. My wife is having trouble deciding what she wants, but I have a whole list ready at all times for just such an occasion. Today's card is the first arrival from my list:

I believe it was in late 2014 that I purchased a whole case of Cryptozoic's Downton Abbey trading cards (probably one of the crazy expenditures that led to the start of our debt elimination program), hoping to put together a master set of the product. I came close, but I was still missing a few things. I picked up a couple of missing autographs from eBay and Blowout forum sellers; I was able to source the last singles from the mini parallel set from another Blowout forum member and some British sellers; I got the special binder with the exclusive wardrobe card from an online card shop; I ordered the special Non-Sport Update magazine issue with the standard promo card; and I waited a long time and spent way too much money to get the limited edition metal promo card that was only distributed at a card show in Britain.

The one thing that eluded me was a sketch card. The sketches came in two varieties; full-size sketch cards and tobacco-sized mini sketches. They are quite uncommon, falling at less than one per case. The ones that have been sitting on eBay forever are all pretty pricey. This mini-sized sketch card was the cheapest of the lot and luckily it features my favorite character from the show, Mr. Carson, the butler of Downton Abbey. The sketch was done by Gabby Untermayerova, who doesn't seem to have much of a web presence at the moment. I've had it saved in my eBay want list for what seems like years, always worrying that it would be sold before I got around to hitting the Buy It Now button. Now it's mine.

*At this point I am pretty much calling my set complete, although in theory I would still need a full-size sketch from the set to have a representation of everything available. That's going to carry a pretty big price tag, though, even for the cheapest full-size sketch available. I'll probably have to think for another year or so on that. Most of the sketches out there have already been posted for that long or more, so they'll probably still be around then. Someday I need to scan and photograph everything I've gathered and do a nice comprehensive post on the set. That's a lot of work, though, so it's going to be a while before I get around to it.

Downton Abbey Seasons 1 & 2 Metal Promo Card

I've been chasing this card for a while now, and I was finally able to land one. It is a metal promo card for the Downton Abbey Seasons 1 & 2 card set produced by Cryptozoic. Only 100 copies of the metal promo were made (mine is # 38 / 100) and they were available for sale at Non-Sport Update booth at the 2013 Memorabilia Birmingham collectible show in Britain. I believe some of the print run was available on the Non-Sport Update website after that, but I arrived on the scene much too late to take advantage of it. I had to do it the old-fashioned way by saving a search on eBay and waiting for someone to list one.

This card pretty well closes the door on the set for me, as I have all of the inserts, the full mini parallel set, all of the autographs and wardrobe relic cards, the binder, and the special issue of Non-Sport Update with the regular promo card. The only thing I am really missing is a sketch, but those were pretty hard to find and the only ones I've seen listed are a bit out of my range. Maybe someday I will save up enough to grab another case of this stuff and hope that I pull a sketch card.

Pack of the Day 84: The Other Box of Downton Abbey Seasons 1 & 2

I know what everyone's been wondering. You've all been wondering if I got any 2015 Topps Series 1 yet. I did get in on some 2015 Topps action, but I'm not done spamming your faces off with non-sports cards. I've already broken down the first box of Downton Abbey cards I opened, the missing hit from that box that Cryptozoic sent out to me, and some autographs I bought and busted out of their cases, but I haven't yet shown the second box I opened. Let's get to it.

Here is an example of a base card next to one of the mini cards. The minis use the same images as the base cards, but they are cropped a bit differently, printed on different cardstock, and have a different design, with borders on the top and a changed bottom border. If this is the face Mr. Carson makes when things are normal, I'd hate to see what he looks like when things are bad.

And here are the backs of the cards. The back of the mini features a truncated version of the text on the bigger card and omits the photo. Surprisingly enough, the photo on the back of the large card gives more context than the photo on the front did, as we can see a soldier in the background loading up the supplies mentioned in the card text.

Collation matched the stated odds in this box all around, so I got the expected two cards from the World War I insert. I had a hard time watching the war scenes in the show. It wasn't because the horrors of it all reminded me of my own time overseas, it was just because they got so much wrong. I couldn't take it seriously. I'm that guy. A couple of weeks ago a comic book cosplayer I follow on Facebook posted pictures of herself dressed up as Black Widow and everyone was like, "OMG so cool!" and I was like, "How is she fighting villains without a magazine loaded in her gun?"

Here are the two Downstairs cards I pulled from the box. I don't know much about these two folks, but there is one episode (several episodes?) that features a running gag involving Mr. Molesley. He tries dying his hair and everyone in the house asks him if he is ill or if something is wrong with his head. Eventually he is told to fix whatever is wrong with his hair. Good stuff.

I also pulled two Upstairs cards. One features the Dowager Countess who doesn't have anything better to do than make snide comments and work behind the scenes to mess with everyone. She does have her redeeming moments, like altering the vote so that someone else could win the Blue Ribbon for rose growing at the annual festival. She's not all bad. Lady Edith Crawley is the other card I pulled from this insert set. She might be my favorite of the Upstairs characters, although in reading the episode descriptions it seems that she makes a long string of bad decisions. I guess it wouldn't be a drama without plenty of bad decisions. I would have to watch the episodes, though, to ensure that she is still my favorite. Maybe once I get done with school in about ten weeks I'll get around to it.

My relic from the box was Sarah O'Brien's Black Dress. I guess it's an all right pull, although the Downstairs relics don't pull nearly as much weight as the Upstairs relics. Using the informal gauge of value, my wife hardly gave this one a look, and stated that she wanted to see some of the Upstairs dress relics. She doesn't like O'Brien very much, as O'Brien is one of the more villainous servants in the estate.

The autograph was one I didn't have yet, but it isn't among the most popular in the set. Iain Glen seems to be a fairly prolific actor, but his Downton Abbey character Sir Richard Carlisle only appeared in the show for six episodes as a newspaper editor who is newly wealthy. I guess he tries to marry Lady Mary Crawley and manages to make an enemy out of the Dowager Countess, and then he leaves.

And that's all for this box. Not really the greatest box, but I got all of the promised cards this time. I haven't actually sorted all of the base cards yet, but the collation seemed better than the first box was while I was busting the packs. In the first box I noticed quite a few doubles and packs repeating sequences from earlier packs. I didn't notice that as much with this one.

Seeking Redemption 10: Cryptozoic Sends the Missing Hit

This wasn't really a redemption card, but it was largely the same process and so I categorized this post accordingly. A few days ago I posted the results of my first box break of Cryptozoic's Downton Abbey Seasons 1 & 2 trading cards. The box was missing a Wardrobe relic card, so I sent off a help desk ticket to the company to see what they had to say about it. I got an e-mail relatively soon asking me to send in my box top and an invoice or receipt showing my purchase. I sent that in and a little while later I got a shipping notification from FedEx along with a tracking number. A few days later I got an envelope delivered. They did require a signature on the shipment, so it's a good thing my wife was home at the time. The card was packaged in a penny sleeve and top loader, and then inside of a padded envelope that was placed inside of another padded envelope which was placed in the FedEx mailing envelope. All of the envelopes were sealed, and the final envelope was one of those little plastic padded mailers that just stretch instead of ripping when you try to open them. Here's what I found when I finally got through to the card:

It's a Wardrobe relic of Lady Mary Crawley's Dress. The colors on the scan seem a little bit off to me, but looking at the card it appears the fabric is the type you can see on the sleeve of the dress. My wife seemed especially impressed with the card, which was pretty cool. I don't think she really gets excited when I show her my sports memorabilia cards, but this is something she can relate to.

Word on the forums is that these relics are from the same fabric used in the making of the costumes for the show, and not actual little pieces of the costumes themselves. The wording on the back seems to back up that viewpoint. They're still pretty cool, especially since it seems like most/all of the relic swatches can be matched to some part of the garment shown in the photograph on the card.

Cryptozoic's help desk was quite helpful, they shipped the replacement card quickly, and communicated well throughout the process. It is a much different and better experience than the interactions I've had in trying to get reactions from Topps about issues.

Two Downton Abbey Autographs, Temporarily Imprisoned

I picked up a couple of Downton Abbey autograph singles from eBay recently, to add to my budding collection. I am still trying to decide whether or not I want to build the whole set. You can get most of a Master Set from one case, which is a pretty tempting proposition for me. I've never bought a case of cards before. I don't know if I'd even be able to bring myself to do it. There is decent resale value right now on eBay for most of the autographs and wardrobe cards, and plenty of demand for the sketch cards if you're lucky enough to pull one. I think the odds place sketch cards at about every other case, although that might be wrong.

I specifically targeted the Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith Crawley card, but I picked up the Zoe Boyle as Lavinia Swire card from the same seller because I could combine shipping on them. The other autograph from the set that I really want is Jim Carter as Mr. Carson. His autograph is one of the more costly ones in the set, so I am hoping to pull it from a pack.

These two cards originally showed up in these holders along with grades from some place called GMA. I didn't do much looking into the company, but one of the case had a big crack in it and I though I ought to remove the cards from their prisons. The adhesive on these things was pretty weak, so they popped apart without much resistance.

Here are the plastic prisons post-breakout. I don't have much more in the way of non-sports stuff to show off, but I can probably keep it going for another few posts. I guess I should have formalized this thing and announced a theme week or something. That would have been exciting.

Pack of the Day 83: A Box of Cryptozoic Downton Abbey Seasons 1 & 2

I picked up a couple of boxes of Cryptozoic's Downton Abbey Seasons 1 & 2 cards when Dave and Adam's had them on sale recently. I haven't watched much of the show, to be honest, but my wife is really into it and I've watched enough over her shoulder to know that if I had any time it might be a guilty pleasure of mine to watch it as well. My problem with all of these shows is that if anyone would just talk to anyone else for a few minutes 95% of the problems would be solved without a lot of intrigue, death, and skulking about, but I guess that would ruin the fun of the show.

The base set contains 126 cards and follows the events of the first two seasons of the show, basically from the sinking of the Titanic through the end of World War One. I haven't watched enough of it to know everything that goes on in the show, but here's what I remember of it.

Here Mr. Carson, the stern butler, reads an editorial in the newspaper about the offensive songs the lower classes have been listening to in the music halls. This worries him greatly as he has heard some of his downstairs staff talking about spending time in these establishments. William the footman is looking on quite nervously in the background, as he has been visiting the music halls with his love interest, Daisy, who also works on the staff. He knows that Mr. Carson is pretty much the B.A. Baracus of Downton Abbey and doesn't take no guff from anybody, least of all footmen. Mr. Carson announces that the best way to fight an enemy is to know the enemy, and marches off to the family's new gramophone to hear this devil music for himself.

Leaning in close, he has Lady Mary Crawley put on a recording that he has confiscated from an alcove in the kitchen, an event that was so upsetting to Daisy that dinner was several minutes late and overly salty. This was a true disaster and made Mr. Carson even more sure that this music hall business needed to stop.

After he gives a nod to indicate that he is ready, Lady Mary sets the needle down on the record and immediately the most awful and coarse music began to pour out of the contraption; with lurid lyrics full of bloomers, booze, and bosoms. Mr. Carson heroically shoves Lady Mary out of the room to protect her ears...

...and promptly collapses under the burden of the moral decay his staff has brought into the estate. Lady Mary hurries to her quarters, has her servants change her into something a bit more exciting, and then sends them off to fetch help.

The staff attempts to rescue Mr. Carson, but after his initial collapse the music has driven him into a frenzy and no one present is a match for a man of his strength, size, and moral fibre. Daisy manages to dart in and knock the recording away from the turntable (and also grab a stack of the confiscated recordings for safekeeping) just before Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, arrives, sizes up the situation, and deftly chokes Mr. Carson out using a spare cummerbund he keeps in a desk drawer. Mr. Carson is hauled off to his quarters to rest, and meal services are all out of sorts for the next two days as he recovers from the ordeal.

The set does have one parallel, tobacco-sized minis made of similar cardstock to Upper Deck's Goodwin Champions cards. They feature smaller versions of their base card images and a truncated description of the scene on the back. You get a few of these per box, and I imagine it's pretty difficult to put a whole set together.

At War is a 9-card set featuring the characters in the show who go off to fight in World War One. They are supposedly seeded 1:12 packs, but this box was full of collation issues and I only got one card. There were quite a few doubles among the base cards and the minis, too. The other box was much better collation-wise.

Other inserts include one called Upstairs, highlighting the fancy-pants who live upstairs and their friends who visit. They're all Counts and Ladies and Dowagers. Their cards are on a shiny silvery foil card stock with some ornamentation on the border. There are twelve cards in the checklist.

The Downstairs insert features the servants who live downstairs and spend their time trying to ruin each others' lives and/or get busy with each other. Their hats are squishier than the hats of the nobility. Their cards are printed on shiny black foil card stock and feature plain frames. There are also twelve cards in this set.

Autographs and wardrobe cards are seeded one per box, but I didn't get a wardrobe card in this box. I sent a message to Cryptozoic about it, and they had me send in the box top and my invoice in to them. I got an e-mail a couple of days ago that they were shipping out a replacement for the missing card, so we will see what they sent me when it gets here. For now we can talk about the autograph I did get, which is Michelle Dockery, who plays Lady Mary Crawley. This is one of the more desirable autographs in the set, so I have that going for me. Several copies of this card have sold in the $80-90 range recently, which after eBay fees would just about pay for my two boxes of cards if I were to sell it. I am playing with the idea of putting together the master set, though, so I don't think I will sell it just yet.

And that's all for this box. It's kind of a fun break, although it is certainly not for everyone. I was a little disappointed in the collation, as Cryptozoic is usually on point with their products. I have purchased quite a few of their comic book releases and some of their cards for The Guild, and never been disappointed in the collation. I probably just got that one box that was in a weird spot in the print run where one batch ran into another batch and caused a bunch of duplicates and misses.