BLACK FRIDAY COMC PICKUPS - PART 64: THE RETURN OF PETER CUSHING, KINDA

IT WAS REALLY LATE IN THE GAME, I WAS ALMOST OUT OF MONEY AND I STARTED MAKING SOME REALLY WEIRD PICKUPS. THIS ONE WAS INSPIRED BY A TWEET I SAW. APPROPRIATE, SINCE IT'S A BIRD

1939 OGDEN'S BRITISH BIRDS AND THEIR EGGS SKYLARK

ALL RIGHTY THEN. THIS IS A BIRD. THIS BIRD LAID AN EGG. GOOD LORD LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT EGG. THAT BIRD WENT THROUGH A ROUGH TIME. THE BIRD LOOKS HAPPY ABOUT IT THOUGH. MAYBE THERE'S SOME FORESHORTENING GOING ON HERE AND THE EGG IS ACTUALLY MORE BIRD-SIZE APPROPRIATE. CAN YOU TELL I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY ABOUT THIS CARD

THIS IS ANOTHER OGDEN'S BRITISH TOBACCO CARD. IT'S A LITTLE BEAT UP AT THE TOP  BUT IT'S OVERALL IS PRETTY GOOD SHAPE. SKYLARK IS A POPULAR SONG BIRD AND ALSO A JAZZ SONG SUNG BY ELLA FITZGERALD AND ARETHA FRANKLIN. IT EATS BUGS AND WORMS AND CRAWLY THINGS. IT'S A PERFECTLY CROMULENT BIRD. SO WHY THE HELL AM I WRITING A WHOLE-ASS POST ABOUT THIS RANDOM-ASS BIRD. I LIKE BIRDS, AND SPEND A LOT OF TIME LOOKING OUT MY WINDOW AT THE CARDINALS AND JAYS FLITTING ABOUT ON THE TREES IN MY BACK YARD. MAYBE SOME SKYLARKS? MY EXPERTISE IN BIRDWATCHING CONSISTS OF SEEING SOMETHING FLYING AROUND, POINTING AT IT AND SAYING 'BIRD!'. AND THERE'S TONS OF OLD TOBACCO CARDS WITH BIRDS AS SUBJECTS AND BETTER YET, THEY'RE CHEAP! NO ONE CARES ABOUT WHICH SET HAS THE TURTLE DOVE'S ROOKIE CARD, A BIRD CARD IS A BIRD CARD. BUY WHY THIS PARTICULAR LARGE EGGY BIRD? 

IN BETWEEN COMC SEARCHED I WAS HOPPING ON AND OFF TWITTER BACK WHEN IT MERELY SUCKED AND WASN'T A FULL BLOWN DISASTER YET. I FOLLOW A BUNCH OF CLASSIC HORROR THEMED ACCOUNTS AND MY BOI PETER CUSHING IS A FREQUENT SUBJECT. IN ADDITION TO BEING A CLASSIC HORROR ICON, PETER CUSHING IS A BIG FUCKING NERD WHO LOVES TO COLLECT THINGS AND PLAY WITH TOYS. IF HE WAS AROUND TODAY HE'D TOTALLY BE INTO WARHAMMER. THIS PICTURE OF HIM SHOWING OFF SOME BIRD FIGURINES POPPED UP IN MY TIMELINE AND I NOTICED THE TOBACCO CARDS IN THE BACKGROUND AND FREAKED OUT. I WANTED A PETER CUSHING BIRD CARD. I COULD NOT TELL A DAMN THING ABOUT THOSE CARDS FROM THAT PHOTO SO I HAD TO GO INTO CSI MODE. ENHANCE!

I ZOOMED AS MUCH AS I COULD AND YES, THEY WERE TOBACCO CARDS, AND YES, THEY WERE BIRDS. AND THERE WAS ALSO A ROUND EGGY LOOKING THING ON THE CARD. NO CHANCE AT SEEING ANY TEXT BUT 'TRADING CARD SET WITH BIRDS AND EGGS' WAS A GOOD START. HONESTLY THE EGGS PROBABLY SAVED ME BECAUSE THERE ARE TONS OF SETS WITH JUST BIRDS BUT EGGS ARE A BIT MORE RARE. AFTER SOME DIGGING I FOUND SOME AUCTION LISTINGS FOR OLD TOBACCO SETS AND FOUND THIS IMAGE OF A PAGE OF OGDEN'S BRITISH BIRDS AND THEIR EGGS CARDS FOR SALE. COMPARE THE CIRCLED CARDS WITH THE RAVEN AND RAZORBILL AT THE TOP LEFT

THE BLOBS IN THE PETER CUSHING PHOTO WERE CLOSE ENOUGH TO THESE CARDS FOR ME. TIME TO HUNT MYSELF AN EGG. LUCKILY COMC HAD SOME CARDS FROM THIS SET AND THIS SKYLARK LOOKED SORTA LIKE THAT THIRD CARD ON THE BOTTOM ROW SO I DECIDED THAT THIS WAS PETER CUSHING'S ACTUAL CARD FROM THIS PICTURE (THE TOP WAS DAMAGED IN A PARTICULARLY FIERCE BATTLE OF HIS TOY SOLDIERS) AND SNAPPED IT UP. YOU CAN'T PROVE HE DIDN'T OWN IT SO AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED HE DID. MY OWN PETER CUSHING HOLY RELIC! IF YOU WANT YOUR OWN TRY TO HUNT DOWN THAT FIRST ONE ON THE BOTTOM ROW, IT LOOKS TERRIBLY MISCUT AND YOU'D HAVE A BETTER ARGUMENT THAN I HAVE THAT IS WAS REALLY HIS. SADLY NOT EVEN A YEAR LATER, TWITTER IS A GHOST TOWN HAUNTED BY BIGOTS AND BOTS AND GOOGLE IS ALL IN ON AI SO SEARCH RESULTS ARE MISERABLE AND HAVING A COOL LITTLE SCAVENGER HUNT LIKE THIS IS GOING TO BE MUCH HARDER NOW. OH WELL. IF YOU NEED A BLUE SKY INVITE LET ME KNOW, THE BASEBALL CARD FOLKS ON THERE HAVE A LARGE PILE OF EM READY TO HAND OUT