Collecting Highlight (37) - Michael Whelan Pern artwork phonecards

[Hans]

In 1995 PATCO or Public Access Telephone Company issued three 'comic phonecards' (prepaid cards) based on Michael Whelan's artwork for three of the Pern novels. They bear an expiring date of January 6, 1996 and are considered collector's items, especially since only 2,000 were made of each card. In my honest opionion this is an affordable collectible.

The three novels and subsequent Whelan artwork were:

1. Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern, artwork: Moreta
this card is good for 15 units for domestic calls

2. The White Dragon, artwork: The White Dragon
this card is good for 15 units for domestic calls

3. All the Weyrs of pern, artwork: Weyrworld
this card is good for 5 units for domestic calls

Of this last card 500 signed copies exist; whether they come on top on the 200 (unsigned) ones or if there are 1500 unsigned and 500 signed ones is not entirely clear to me.

As I said these cards are collectible items and the artwork (printing on the plastic card) is of good quality. I bought mine through eBay of a seller called Peter Comparetto.

I enquired and Peter still has a limited amount of these cards (only two of the cards are currently listed on eBay, but you can mail him if you want more information). The regular Weyrworld card costs $8, the signed one $25. The other cards cost $5 a piece. He offers a complete set of Moreta, White Dragon and Weyrlworld signed for $30; not a bad investment if you ask me
Go here to visit Peter's eBay store (search for Whelan). The cards are in unused/mint condition.

Here's all three of them


Weyrworld card


White Dragon card


Moreta card


Back of the Moreta card

[~(_'>]

These are a nice set. Phone cards are something of collecter items in and of themselves. These are great for the Pern value.

[Lady Maelin]

I was sent an email from a friend to go and see Peter's Ebay store a while back... I thought these were lovley and so I bought all three of these cards and have them in a display frame together now.

I would love to get the rest of the McCaffrey cards that are out there for sale by the other artist, I have several of them now but need a few more.

There are a number of them that were made and I'm working on getting them all...thanks to a list that was put up a while back( it's in the archives now) from one of the members.Thanks to whomever that was.

[Becky]

Besides being sold seperately they were sold as a set in a folder with the White Dragon art on the cover. Hmmm.....do I have a picture taken of these already? Lemme look around.......

Found it! Whew! I bought the cards seperately and then later found this set in the folder. I don't have the signed ones tho. I figure two sets are enough.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I wants!!!

[Hans]

Any more info on the folder thing with the cards in it, Becky? Is there art on the inside and/or backside? How many were made? Price? Any further data would be welcome as it should be mentioned with this Collecting Highlight, I think.

Thanks for this additional info

[Becky]

Hans, always glad to help and add more info. I was going to do a highlight on these at one point but got sidetracked on another item and then another item and another..... Glad that you got one posted for them since it was taking me forever to get to them.

Ok, here's the inside of the folder......

Nicely done I think. There is no pricing on the folder at all, so I don't know how much they sold them for as a set. I can't remember how much I paid for the set, but it wouldn't have been very much. The back is plain white with info on contacting Patco. It also says that there were 1500 of them produced. Now I don't know if that's for the folders or if they took part of the cards they did and just put them in sets. Seems rather odd that they did the same number of these as singles, but just a thought that ran thru my mind, maybe they like the number 1500.

These are a great collectible item to start with or to round out your Anne collection, whether it's the single cards or the folder set.

Great highlight Hans!

[Lady Maelin]

OH that is beautiful Becky, I sure would love one of those... here we go again....

[Hans]

I'm right there with you, Maelin. Haven't seen any come up on eBay though.

Hmm, I'm very curious is the seperate cards were made in batches of 2,000 and if this set with its holder comes on top of that... that would mean that, if the cards 'come loose' from the presentation folder, there would be 3,500 each effectively (with only 1,500 presentation folders in existence).

[Becky]

I pulled the cards out of the folder and the numbers on the back read 905 - 1558 of 2000 on the Moreta, 906 - 1558 of 2000 on the White Dragon and 907 - 1558 of 2000 on the Weyrworld.
So the 905, 906 and 907 denote the picture on the front since Hans' Moreta back also has the 905.
I also read the back more carefully and it says 1500 full sets issued. So the sets are in addition to the singles they did.

[Hans]

Hmm, but your cards say x of 2000; doesn't that mean 2000 full sets were made of which 1500 in a folder? Or am I thinking the wrong way?

[Becky]

Hans, it's hard to say. It could be that they made 2000 of each card, whether sold as a set in a folder or singly. It could be that they made 1500 folders with a full set, but then that's not really right either. Because the back of my cards say 2000 made and so do yours. So maybe they were sold as a set of three and not singly and the folders got tossed? I just don't know.

[Lady Maelin]

Maybe it means that the count of 2000, and 1500 is the amount of cards that were made, and of those only a few were put into those LOVELY presentation folders like yours Becky...you lucky girl!!!

[Samsara]

I know this is a REALLY old post/highlight... but....I just bought one each of these 3 cards from the seller listed below!!! He only has 3 or 4 left if anyone else is interested... One of them is signed..

[Hans]

I also got fine copies of Weyrworld and The White Dragon for sale (unsigned).

And personally I am still looking for the gift box!

[Samsara]

Hans.... please get that list to me before I buy anything else... please....

[~(_'>]

Originally Posted by Hans

I am still looking for the gift box!

What do you mean, gift box? Or do you mean the folder?

[Hans]

Yeah, I mean the folder.

[Perdita]

I just bought the set of three cards (1 signed) from Peter, can't wait till they arrive! It was my first ebay purchase too, I usually shop on Etsy but now that I'm getting into collectibles I think I'll be using ebay more often...