Complete set of 20 Belgian Lobby Cards |
I recently, finally completed my set of DAWN OF THE DEAD Belgian Lobby Cards. It’s a long but interesting story that started way back, 18 years ago, in 2005. This is the Curious Case of the DAWN OF THE DEAD Belgian Lobby Cards...so here's the story…
Size Comparison: DAWN OF THE DEAD Belgian Lobby Cards are much bigger than your average 8X10 Press photo |
Around 2003, I started my George Romero collection, I slowly started collecting things from some of Romero’s films, such as DAWN OF THE DEAD, CREEPSHOW, DAY OF THE DEAD, and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. I would constantly scour eBay for collectibles like photos or posters or lobby cards. In fact I would look at eBay daily, which is still something that I do to this day, 20 years later. At the beginning of my collecting, I had limits on how much I would spend, I would not spend over $50 for anything unless it was really special, then I would spend up to $100 if it was something extremely cool. I never spent over $100 ever though, until I had been collecting this stuff over a decade. I had limits, I had kids, all kinds of things going on. One of the things that I found and won on eBay, in this early time period, was an auction of 10 DAWN OF THE DEAD Belgian Lobby Cards. I still have them in the original mailing package.
Package with my 10 Belgian Lobby Cards |
The date on the package is December 28, 2005 |
My original 10 Belgian Lobby Cards with their original package |
The date on the package is December 28, 2005 with my old address in NJ from 17 years ago. So I’ve had these a long time. Back then I never knew how many were in a set. Years later I would find out there are 20 in a complete set. When I first joined Facebook and started posting pictures of my DAWN OF THE DEAD collectibles, my new friend Daz Sergeant saw my Belgian Lobby Cards and kept making references to buying them or trading for them.
My original 10 Belgian Lobby Cards |
Daz's original 17 Belgian Lobby Cards |
It seems that I had 3 that he needed to make a complete set and he had 10 that I needed to make a complete set. So every couple of years, if I said I wanted something of his, he would say, how about we trade for those Belgian Lobby cards that I had, that he needed. He would always say something along the lines of…”I really like those Belgian Lobby cards…” I would always say no, I would never sell or trade mine. I thought that he would never sell or trade his, so we were at a standoff, neither of us would have a complete set. I’ve been looking to complete my set for over a decade since I figured out that there’s 20 in a full set. I’ve never seen the ones that I need up for sale. These Belgian Lobby cards almost never come up for sale, in fact, they may be some of the rarest DAWN OF THE DEAD collectible items that exist. I sort of gave up in recent years, I never thought that I’d complete my set. Then a couple months ago, Daz put his Belgian Lobby Cards up for sale on eBay.
Photo from Daz's recent eBay auction
I was in shock, I never thought that I would see this day. So I immediately messaged him…”Hey man…I really like those Belgian Lobby Cards…” he laughed because he had said the same thing to me so many times over the years. I said I would probably buy them. Daz ended coming over from England for the Living Dead Weekend: Monroeville June 9-11 and he brought those Belgian Lobby cards with him. I did buy them while he was over here and now I have a full set FINALLY. It’s crazy, Daz always teased me and mentioned wanting mine, in the end I bought his. Isn’t it ironic? Anyway, I have a full set now and I’m happy. It just took almost 18 years for me to complete my set, evidenced by the 12/28/05 date on the package of my original 10 Belgian Lobbies. Thanks Daz, for selling yours and making my complete set. I do have a few extra ones, since we both had some of the same ones. I guess I’ll sell the duplicate ones. I hope that you enjoyed this crazy story of how it took me 18 years to get a complete set of DAWN OF THE DEAD Belgian Lobby cards. Stay Scared!
- Larry
Duplicates that I will be selling |