These are very likely real. Richard Garriott has quite a personal warehouse of old Ultima trinkets. It's likely other X-Origin people do as well.
That reminds me. When we were at EA, Richard and I had a funny (interesting in retrospect) e-mail thread I thought I'd pass along. Read from the bottom up (starting with <<<<<<<): -----Original Message----- From: Garriott, Richard Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 11:29 AM To: Falk, Hugh Cc: Caddel, Michelle Subject: RE: Ultima oldies Oh my! What a collection! I'd be happy to offer you an Ultima VII to make your collection more complete. No need for compensation. Just say nice things about me to EA exec's. (The new game idea I want to move on will need high level support.) Where should I send it? - Richard -----Original Message----- From: Falk, Hugh Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 10:24 AM To: Garriott, Richard Cc: Caddel, Michelle; Ovelman, Elizabeth Subject: RE: Ultima oldies I would love to get a copy. What's it worth to me? Let's take your suggestions one at a time: First born child - well, my wife and I don't have any yet. However, I would be willing to negotiate if you throw in the ability to spin straw into gold. Games to trade - that I can handle. At the risk of losing all respectability, I will point you my web site (when the ISP is working): <http://www.emuclassics.com/gotcha/> You'll see that I am a collector of computer games and will gladly talk trade. Millions of dollars - no problem*. Thanks again for contacting me, and please let me know what I must do. Best regards, Hugh *No problem, assuming you are referring to Canadian dollars, and that you will accept one Canadian dollar per year for one million years. Rendered null and void upon the passing of either party or destruction of Canada, whichever comes first. ________________________ Hugh Falk Development Director Electronic Arts - Tiburon 2301 Lucien Way, Suite 395 Maitland, FL 32751 407.838.8591 Direct 407.838.8888 Fax -----Original Message----- From: Garriott, Richard Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 10:46 AM To: Ovelman, Elizabeth; Falk, Hugh Cc: Caddel, Michelle Subject: RE: Ultima oldies Hugh, In fact I do have a few original 3.5" Ultima VII's. Not just any copy of the game mind you. They are in fact the first 10 off the presses, ever. What's it worth to ya? Ha ha ha! ;-) First born child? Games to trade? Millions of dollars? - Richard Garriott <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< -----Original Message----- From: Stephane Racle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2004 6:20 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Weird Ultima auction on eBay Perhaps someone who worked at Origin in some fashion? Location is Austin, TX... Edward Franks wrote: > > On Feb 1, 2004, at 7:40 PM, Per-Olof Karlsson wrote: > >> Did anyone see this auction? >> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? >> ViewItem&category=11050&item=3075606212 >> >> Seems pretty peculiar to me.. Why would somebody have 10 copies of >> these >> thingies?? Apparently he's had more of these auctions out as well, >> suggesting he's got at least 10, possibly more. Smells fake all over >> if you >> ask me, eh?? I'm no Ultima expert so I can't see if the pic looks >> suspicious >> or not, perhaps somebody can? > > > First off, he might have screwed up the auction listing. It > happens to us all. ;-) > > The four runes on the left look correct. I can't tell from the > photo about the runes on the right. One should be an I and the other > should be |` (that is, a upright I with a serif descending from the > top to the right). That doesn't necessarily mean anything either > way, though. Anyone with a set plus the availability of some > aluminum and a stamp could easily churn out fakes. > > The cloth map itself looks right at first glance. That would > almost certainly be genuine as the cost to making them is hideous. > Richard Garriott has said that economic pressures cause folks to want > to eliminate the map and that Origin always "burned" the map makers. > That is, the map makers discovered that the maps were always a > losing proposition and never did them again. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
