Big Doctor Strange room update!

Huge new update on my Doctor Strange collection. First since last year! CLICK HERE TO SEE

Howard Hallis Art Show In Los Angeles on Friday July 24th!

A small intimate gathering to celebrate the release of Howard's new comic book 3D Octopus Love, as well as his new series of small 8x10 lenticulars entitled "Metaminis". Along with this, the one-of-a-kind 3D Doctor Strange Ouija Board will be on display.

The New Sanctum Sanctorum West

I recently relocated and just finished putting up my new Sanctum Sanctorum for my Dr. Strange collection. It holds almost every comic book and graphic novel appearance of Marvel's Dr. Strange. Also included are original works of art by Gene Colan, Frank Brunner and Alex Ross, among others, as well as DVDs, video games and toys:

 

 

A lenticular piece I made based on Marie Severin's art from Strange Tales #158. It's in a lightbox right outside the room which houses The Sanctum:

 

 This closet adjacent to The Sanctum houses all my Dr. Strange t-shirts and my collection of first printing hardcovers of Neil Gaiman's Sandman:

 

My large display cabinet couldn't fit into the doorway of the room where The Sanctum is housed, so it resides in my living room:

 

Help me calculate the odds

Some recent Doctor Strange collectible non-sports cards were released in extremely limited editions and I was wondering if there was some way to mathematically calculate the odds of collecting the following:

Above is a photo of 20 cards featuring all 4 of the 2013 Marvel Fleer Retro Precious Gem Doctor Strange cards (top row), the Rittenhouse Marvel 75th Anniversary Dr. Strange card (top row far right), as well as every form of the three Doctor Strange cards and one Dormammu card from the 2014 Rittenhouse Marvel Universe set (these are seen in the 4 rows below).

Of these 20...

There were only 10 made of 4 of them. (The Fleer Green Precious Gem (top row, second card from right) and the 3 Rittenhouse Diamond Parallel cards. You can see these on the far right on rows 2 - 4.

There were only 50 made of 4 of them. (The Fleer Blue Precious Gem and the 3 Rittenhouse Ruby Parallel cards)

There were only 75 made of 1 of them. (The Rittenhouse 75th Anniversary card seen on the far right in the first row)

There were only 100 made of 4 of them. (The Fleer Red Precious Gem and the 3 Rittenhouse Emerald Parallel cards)

The rest of the 7 cards are commons. The Rittenhouse set has a gold base set along with a blue "Sapphire Parallel" base set, so that makes 6 total in that run. The common one from the Marvel Fleer Retro set is top row left.

These cards are distributed to a few hundred stores and private collections around the world.

How do I calculate the odds of having been able to find them all?

To determine the odds you would need to determine the probability first, which would require knowing a few vital pieces of information:

1. Approximately how many people collect these things? This would be the variable that determines the demand.
2. How many cases of each card set were made in total? This would determine total supply.
3. How many of each card are currently available on eBay (or elsewhere online)? This would determine the variable of 99% certainty that you could currently obtain an item if you had enough money.
4. The probability that the rare items are still available in unopened packages and have not all already been accounted for.

Once you have these figures (or an educated guess for each) you can use a mathematical formula to work out the probability and determine the odds of all of them ever coming together as they have in the picture above.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

2013 FLEER MARVEL RETRO CARD LINE
20 packs per box, 5 cards per pack
Mini boxes have 10 packs per box, 5 cards per pack.
6 boxes per case.
Approximately 500-600 cases made

2014 RITTENHOUSE MARVEL
24 packs per box. 5 cards per pack.
12 boxes per case.
Approximately 500-600 cases made

2013 Fleer Marvel Retro Cases currently available online for sale (as of 5/3/14): 10
2013 Fleer Marvel Retro Boxes currently available online for sale (as of 5/3/14): 50
2013 Fleer Marvel Retro Mini Boxes currently available online for sale (as of 5/3/14): 7

2014 Rittenhouse Marvel Cases currently available online for sale (as of 5/3/14): 3
2014 Rittenhouse Marvel Boxes currently available online for sale (as of 5/3/14): 40

From top left to right
Card #1 Fleer Dr. Strange: 11 Available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #2 Fleer Dr. Strange Precious Metal Gem Red: 3 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #3 Fleer Dr. Strange Precious Metal Gem Blue: 2 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #4 Fleer Dr. Strange Precious Metal Gem Green: 0 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #5 Rittenhouse 75th Anniversary Dr. Strange Card: 1 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #6 Rittenhouse #3 Dormammu Gold Base card: 13 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #7 Rittenhouse #3 Dormammu Sapphire Parallel card: 37 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #8 Rittenhouse #3 Dormammu Ruby Parallel card: 1 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #9 Rittenhouse #3 Dormammu Emerald Parallel card: 1 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #10 Rittenhouse #3 Dormammu Diamond Parallel card: 2 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #11 Rittenhouse #6 Dr. Strange Gold Base card: 12 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #12 Rittenhouse #6 Dr. Strange Sapphire Parallel card: 1 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #13 Rittenhouse #6 Dr. Strange Ruby Parallel card: 2 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #14 Rittenhouse #6 Dr. Strange Emerald Parallel card: 1 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #15 Rittenhouse #6 Dr. Strange Diamond Parallel card: 1 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #16 Rittenhouse #53 Dr. Strange Gold base card: 12 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #17 Rittenhouse #53 Dr. Strange Sapphire Parallel card: 1 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #18 Rittenhouse #53 Dr. Strange Emerald Parallel card: 1 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #19 Rittenhouse #53 Dr. Strange Ruby Parallel card: 1 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)
Card #20 Rittenhouse #53 Dr. Strange Diamond Parallel card: 0 available on eBay (as of 5/3/14)

Out of the 20, 2 cards are not currently available for sale online unless you find them in a case or box and they have not already been accounted for.

Completed auctions for those 2 cards:
1 Fleer 2013 Green Precious Gem card was ever up for sale on eBay.
1 Rittenhouse 2014 Diamond Parallel card #53 was ever up for sale on eBay.

So those 2 by default are the rarest… AT THE MOMENT.

Calculations would be appreciated in the comments. Thanks!

More Foreign Dr. Strange Rarities!

Got a bunch of Doctor Strange comics, graphic novels and other things from all over the world in the last few weeks!

First up, from Spain, a set of graphic novels not published in America:

 

Another one from Spain reprints the Last Rites storyline in the Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme comic series. This has never been reprinted in America. The comics are available separately, but I tracked down the much rarer omnibus of the 8 individual issues:

 

This Marvel Team Up reprint from Spain has a painted cover. I love painted covers!

The final one from Spain is a super rare (but very professionally put together) fanzine devoted to Dr. Strange:

Not a comic, but here's a DVD copy of the Lion's Gate Dr. Strange Animated Movie from Mexico:

Here's two modern reprints from Germany:

Now it's off to France, with some great issues of "Strange!" The first reprints a ROM Spaceknight storyline and has another amazing painted cover:

Also with the same cover is a Strange Album, which collects 3 entire issues (including #172 pictured above)

Here's issue #210, which reprints Defenders #101:

And finally, the big one and a grail I've been looking for for years... A PENCE COPY OF STRANGE TALES #110! This U.K. comic is rarer than almost any American Marvel 35 cent variant and extremely hard to find. It may be beat up, but I'm glad to own one!

Confession Bear

 

Got it for $100 less than it was listed for, but still think it was too much for a stupid card.

Nevertheless, I think I can eventually sell the complete set for more.

Card on the left is common, there were 100 made of the red one, 50 of the blue one, and only 10 of the green one.