Thank you for taking the time to add to the discussion.
The two key questions I have,
- Is there any knowledge of the approximate total supply?
- Were they mounted to card originally in the 1990’s or recently?
Just watching a recent Rudy video on various mtg playtest cards and early material at 15:05 you can see where there are printed uncut paper sheets of concept cards that they used for presentation to investors. https://youtu.be/y46KoMvwE_s?t=905
A person with a cancer diagnosis (I send my heart out to him) is selling a certain quantity of the cards available on the market, but as you state that does not account for all of them (inc the ones on ebay/Mercari). It would be good to know the amounts being sold by different sellers, but I fully understand this is private information and not something that needs to be public. Is the statement that every ever prototype/playtest card being sold on the various platforms (goldin/fanatics,alt etc) are from this source? The implication that all the cards being sold are from this source is that this is an unusual circumstance/opportunity, disarming some of the buyers concerns about being dumped on (perhaps into the future, depending on the supply and choice of the holders). The other factor is that this provides a plausible explanation for why they would be being sold of course. People have asked the question, if these are so rare and special why would you be so eager to sell them quickly in vast quantities. These are the reasons why it would be good to clear up the ambiguity of who exactly is selling what here, though of course this is private information that nobody is owed. As buyers we are trying to gauge the supply and what is driving the sellers, to avoid the possibility of buying at initial high prices before they collapse due to more supply hitting the market.
It seems that the CGC pop report has been growing even within the last few days and there are some loose cards being listed. Any details on how widely Akabane sold would be interesting. The Mercari sellers based in Japan seems to indicate he has also sold a certain amount domestically. Details on how many existed initially and how they have been distributed subsequently would of course be cool to know, also if Akabane still holds some supply.
As a prospective buyer, what holds me back from buying at this moment is the idea that over the next year a steady supply of the cards will come out of the woodwork with the initial prices decreasing with time. This is not a complaint from me.
Meeting Akabane and discovering the cards must have been a special experience! The origins of it all!