Last Auction Photos
I promise these will be the last ones. People just keep on adding more pics and they keep getting better.
This first photo shows some of the first figures that were released that were changed early on, so therefore are quite valuable. Starting from left to right first is the vinyl cape Jawa. Early on Kenner decided that the plastic cape on the Jawa looked cheap and as the figure was priced as all the others they decided to change it to a cloth robe. This is one of the most commonly faked vintage Star Wars figures. I plan to add a loose one to my collection someday since they are a lot cheaper than the $6000-$8000 estimate for that graded carded example and luckily I know how to spot a fake one.
The next three in the picture are Luke, Obi-Wan, and Darth Vader which at first glance just look like the normal figures. The part that makes these so special are the lightsabers. These are the early double telescoping versions. These lightsabers are two pieces where in which you slide the thicker piece through the arm and then the thinner piece also slides from the thicker piece. The Luke’s are much more common especially loose since many of them came in the early bird mailer kit which came with 4 figures before they were released in stores. The Vader and Obi-Wan are a lot more rarer with around 10 carded examples known to still exist and only a handful of loose versions. This lightsaber was deemed too costly to make, so shortly after they were changed. On the common version the smaller piece no longer slides into the larger piece, so the lightsaber was just one piece of plastic rather than two. Below is a pic of a Double Telescoping Luke next to my normal one. I hope to add a loose DT Luke someday to my collection. They still run a couple hundred dollars, but much more affordable compared to the other two. Sometimes they can also be found in lots on ebay from people who do not know about the variation. I’ve seen some collectors that have managed to get one for a few dollars because they took that gamble.
Okay finally on to the 2nd picture. This one shows some of the vehicles which were packaged with figures. The figures were usually in a kenner baggie instead of a carded figure. These special offer vehicles were only offered for a limited time and maybe even only to a few stores, so they are quite valuable among collectors.
The 3rd pic shows some of the last Power of the Force figures released. These last figures packaged with the coin were pretty much exclusive to Australia. The only one that wasn’t released in the U.S. is the Yak Face figure. Anakin was released here in the U.S. but only as a mail away promotion.
Finally the 4th pic shows some proofs of the cardbacks. Included in that lot is a Revenge of the Jedi card that was made up before the name change. No figures were ever actually packaged on the cardbacks with the Revenge logo. Following the Revenge cards are some unproduced Power of the Force cards. They feature older characters that were released for the movies originally but never made it to the Power of the Force card. Kenner’s plans were to originally release all 93 figures on the power of the force logo cards with all 62 coins, but before that happened the Star Wars line was cancelled. All of us kids had moved on to He-Man, Transformers, and G.I. Joe and were no longer interested in Star Wars, so it went into a slumber until the 90′s.
The Joys of Ebay
Last night I won this lot on ebay. Basically it is a group of the 1st 21 figures from Star Wars that were released from 1978-79. I was surprised that I picked it up for $50 since if they are in the condition described it would be roughly $150-$200. My plan was to keep the first twelve to go with an original display stand that I recently picked up and then sell the rest to recover my money.
I promptly sent payment and noticed all throughout the day that it was pending. I figured that the seller probably hadn’t upgraded his paypal account to a business account so he wasn’t able to accept my credit card payment. I emailed him and told him that he could decline my payment and I could send him the funds through paypal from my bank account which a personal paypal account allows.
This was the reply I received “Yes it is my first time selling , and i thought by putting a buy it now for $950 that it meant it was my reserve payment and i wouldn’t get any less this item is worth a hell of a lot more than $50 and i cant ley it go for that cheap , i had it appraised and its worth $950, I am very confused about this whole selling thing and i am very sorry for this inconvience.”
I decided to let the whole thing slide. If I really wanted to I could file a dispute with ebay, but I figured it wasn’t worth it. I will probably leave him a neutral feedback and explain the situation. Technically a bid puts the buyer and seller into a contract. I held up my part by promptly sending payment. I emailed him and did explain that to him since with a future buyer he might not be so lucky. I also told him whoever appraised the figures was way off. I found a similar set of figures on ebay that sold for $160 which I sent him the auction link to. Also, I sent him a link to brianstoys.com where you can buy a set of the first 79 figures for $799.
I’m bummed I didn’t get the good deal, but that’s how it goes I guess. Overall my ebay experience has been good. In the 8 years I have bought and sold I have only had about 3 problems with people that i can think of. Below is the picture from the auction and a pic of the display stand I recently picked up. It the first mailaway promotion item that displayed the first 12 figures.
A Few More Auction Photos
Here are a few more another collector has posted. They show a mock up sample of a carded rocket firing Boba Fett (only one that exists), complete set of Empire Strikes Back 3 packs (only 3-4 complete sets exist), Two graded Empire Strikes Back department store 6 packs, and original artwork for the Anakin Figure and Droids Boba Fett.
Auction Photos
A collector who attended the Premier Collectible Auction has posted some photos of the event. Below are some of my favorites that I would have loved to have seen in person. Some of the highlights are an Italian diorama Return of the Jedi store display, Alternate original artwork for the Tatooine Skiff toy, original Transformers artwork that was used on the original packaging, Unproduced Power of the Force mail-away coin album, USS Flagg GI Joe Aircraft Carrier, and G1 Optimus Prime and Megatron. Everything in the auction was graded by Action Figure Authority and sealed in Acrylic cases. Below are some of the pictures I picked out, but the full gallery can be viewed here
Captain Rex is Here
Today when we got home I had a white box in the mail box. Captain Rex finally came. He is one of the clones that will play an important role in the Clone Wars movie. He originally was supposed to come near the end of May, but was delayed for unknown reasons. He was also supposed to be a sneak preview figure before the toys came out, but as I showed in my previous post that happened yesterday. The packaging turns into a 3D display which I really want to see. I’m tempted to order another one since the promotion goes on until the end of the year, so I have one to open and one to keep boxed.
