Dragon Magazine #160 TSR AD&D Art Trading Card SIGNED Larry Elmore ~ Dragonlance

Description

About the item:
Released in August of 1990, this issue of Dragon Magazine featured a press sheet insert of 18 trading cards.  TSR was testing the waters to see if there would be enough of a popular response to warrant a release of a trading card set. There was, and a year later in 1991 TSR released the first series in the spring and then later that year the second series.  The set was a hit, but the first 18 cards were not included in with the packs.  They were only available in this particular issue of Dragon (which collectors had to try and track down as it was by then a nearly year-old back issue).  Difficult to find even then, it is now even harder to track down.  This copy is in excellent condition.  Does have lite general wear and it will be shipped with the utmost care. It is missing the poster that originally came with the image.  Best of all, it is signed by hand by Larry Elmore, whose work appears on several of the first 18 trading cards. Please note - the signature is real. It is the actual, hand-signed signature of Elmore. It is not a pre-printed image in the magazine (Elmore signed the card press sheet that is bound into the magazine… his cards feature many of the main Dragonlance characters).
About the set: Featuring artwork from many of TSR's most acclaimed artists (like Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell, Brom, Jeff Easley, Fred Fields, Keith Parkinson and more) the set includes characters, monsters, dragons, and magical items from the regular AD&D game world as well as Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, and Spelljammer.
Regarding the rarity of this set, when the 1991 TSR trading card set was released (in the early days of what would become commonplace for most trading card companies) chase cards were just taking the market by storm. TSR followed the trend and included chase cards in their set as well. However, they did not offer subsets- that is, they did not distinguish them from regular cards in the set with inserts like holograms or foil cards. Rather, regular and randomly numbered cards from the base set were printed with much lower print runs, making rare cards. So, out of the ultimately 750 cards that comprise the 1991 AD&D trading card set certain numbers (by way of example – 28, 77, 262, 365, 400, 541, 710, 728) were rare cards.
Series I included the rarest, with ten cards that only 3,000 were printed and twenty cards that only 4,000 were printed. Series II included ten cards that only 10,000 were printed and twenty cards that only 13,000 were printed. Given that numerous people were never able to complete their sets due to the rarity of the 60 total cards, yet having some in their hands, it created a situation to where, though it is theoretically possible to have 3,000 sets hand-collated, the actual number is vastly lower.
~Certificate of Authenticity/Provenance:
Excepting pack-pulled autograph trading cards, CGC Signature Series signed Sideshow prints, and like collectibles, all autographed items Vault Collectibles sells were personally witnessed, by myself, being signed by the writer, artist, or celebrity in question.  No third party is involved.  Further, art sketches - and most published original art I sell - were obtained directly from the artist themselves.
For buyers desiring this guarantee in written form, this statement guarantees that the above-referenced item is as stated in the listing description.  A screen capture of the completed auction page, which includes this statement of provenance, may be saved by the buyer as a digital file or print off in hardcopy form.  As this serves as written proof of said guarantee, no physical documentation will be included in the package when the item is mailed.
J. Brian O’Bryant
VaultCollectibles
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