Flashback Product of the Week: 1993 Skybox The Nightmare Before Christmas

I hope you don’t mind me mixing things up when it comes to Flashback Product of the Week posts, especially around Christmas time.

In 1993 a little movie called The Nightmare Before Christmas came out.  It was directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton.  Composer Danny Elfman provided the film’s score.  This stop-motion feature is a story about Jack Skellington, who is the Pumpkin King of Haloween Town.  He becomes obsessed with Christmas after getting transported through a magical portal in a tree to Christmas Town.  Jack takes up the role of Santa and on Christmas Eve prepares to pilot his coffin like sleigh.  Having a guy like Tim Burton combine Halloween and Christmas makes for one entertaining movie.  My favorite scene is when Jack is getting shot at by cannons.  If you haven’t seen it, I suggest taking a look.

As with many movies, a trading card set was developed.  It was produced by Skybox and consists of 66-cards depicting various scenes from the movie.  Autographed cards were randomly inserted.  The two most valuable autographs collectors could pull were of Burton and Elfman.  They continue to sell for over $100.00 each.  Boxes can be found for $30.00 to $40.00.

Topps Continues To Educate Collectors

For those collectors busting boxes of 2011 Topps Series 2, I highly suggest you take the time to read through the 7-card insert set called “Before There Was Topps”.  This set commemorates some of the most popular vintage card sets to collect before Topps started printing cards.  This is especially good, and I commend Topps for taking the time to educate collectors (specifically new ones).  The set includes the following:

• American Tobacco 1909: T206
• American Tobacco 1911: T205
• American Tobacco 1911: T201
• Exhibit Supply Company, 1921
• Goudey, 1933
• Gum Inc. 1939, “Play Ball”
• Bowman, 1948-1955

Topps also did a great job in 2011 Series 1 with their 10-card insert set titled “History of Topps”.  I know collectors busting boxes like this aren’t looking for big “hits”, but in today’s hobby people don’t always look at the base cards.  These cards are worth taking a look at even though they aren’t worth a ton.  I love cards that educate collectors on card history.