Autographed ALIEN Vintage Trading Cards

As regular readers of the blog (are there any??) may know, I'm also a big fan of ALIEN, Ridley Scott's genre-making sci-fi/horror hybrid that made an action hero out of Sigourney Weaver and introduced H.R. Giger's creepy "biomechanical" imaginings to the popular culture.

The other day while cruising around eBay looking at Giger stuff, I came across an auction that caught my attention - a set of vintage ALIEN trading cards autographed by the movie's stars and creative minds. As the buy-it-now price was reasonable I pulled the trigger and eventually the parcel arrived. Here's what was inside, in no particular order...  
 

"The Steamy Peril"... really?!? Anyway, this card was signed by Yaphet Kotto, a well-known African-American actor who played "Parker", one of the below-decks guys who ran the Nostromo and the refinery ship. Signature is in black Sharpie.

His partner, Brett, was played by Harry Dean Stanton. He met a notably sticky end in the movie as well. Signed in blue Sharpie.

The wonderful character actor John Hurt played Kane, the crew member victimized by the alien facehugger. I can't make out the dedication above his signature though; both in black Sharpie.

The lovely and talented Sigourney Weaver needs to no introduction to genre fans. She signed this card in black Sharpie.

Tom Skerritt played Captain Dallas (my favourite character of course) and signed this card in blue Sharpie. Apparently a love scene between Dallas and Ripley was cut from the film. 

This is really what I was after - a card signed by the artist himself, H.R. Giger, in his distinctive silver marker. The contrast isn't great with the card but it's a nice signature.

Ian Holm (Ash) signed this card in blue marker. He sure creeped me out in his portrayal of the homicidal "synthetic" Company science officer.

This card was signed by director Ridley Scott in blue Sharpie. I'm a big fan of Scott's, especially his work in ALIEN and Blade Runner, two of my all-time favorite movies.

Veronica Cartwright played Lambert in the film and signed this card in black marker. The scene on the card occurs just after Ash tries to murder Ripley with a rolled-up porn magazine (really) and Parker takes him out, revealing Ash to be an android! Yikes!!

This wrapper was included with the set and I've framed it along with the cards.

Unfortunately the seller was unable to provide much provenance with the set. However, he's an active autograph seller on eBay with lots of positive feedback, and the cursory investigation I was able to do with some autograph comparisons satisfied me that the pieces are likely genuine. The seller noted that he'd picked the set up at a convention a few years back. I expect that the original collector assembled the pieces one at a time, likely by sending the cards to the actors to be signed or collecting the signatures in person at a convention.

In any case, they will look nice hanging on the wall in my office. Hope you enjoyed seeing them too!