Wednesday, March 23, 2016

MarketWatch: Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot

 
Michael L. writes:

We move onto the final few ESB characters, though with 2 bounty hunters and the TIE Fighter pilot we should see some decent pricing. And we are also moving into 'post-The Force Awakens' pricing period. As we all know, we've seen an escalating market post the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm. Now that the film has delivered, it will be interesting to see where the market now heads. Data collected for this watch includes sales post 17 December. I've been wanting to include some Facebook sales in this update, and this month we have some, following Ross Barr's 'Above Average Sized Pick' sales threads.

With TIE Fighters and pilots relatively prominent in TFA, I would assume we'll see a step up in pricing in these items, but only time will tell.

As an overall summary, we again see some high pricing for graded items (particularly the AFA85 item), but we do see a decent drop off to much more affordable items for the budget conscious collector. 2016 will be interesting as the hype from TFA subsides (though perhaps not too much) and we see where collectors are. A robust US economy also helps to keep the market where it is (and potentially higher) and conditions seem conducive to this continuing for the year ahead.

Onto the data ...

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

What a way to kick off the month... an AFA85 debut card. This auction ended 22 December and one could say the bidders certainly had an element of TFA excitement as they bid this one up...

47 Back AFA85 (C85/B85/F80) $1,225.00 - eBay link

47 Back AFA60 (C60/B80/F85) $278.95 - eBay link

47 Back Ungraded $124.01 - eBay link

Facebook Sale
47 Back Ungraded (with POP removed) - $95.

The above examples highlight that whilst the market continues to climb there are decent options out there for those on a budget. Any item graded at an 85 continues to climb, and seeing well over $1k didn't shock me at all, given what we've seen. For my money, the ungraded example was pretty decent and for over $1k less, certainly $ for $ a much better option.

Those searching for offerless cards only have one shot with the TIE Fighter Pilot - the 48A. One graded example sold...and fetched a decent price. Though as the second example shows, if you're prepared to sacrifice quality you can still have a very affordable option.

48A Back AFA80 (C75/B80/F85) $635.99 - eBay link

48A Back Ungraded $107.50 - eBay link (eBay listing described this as "old carded 80's toy")

48C Back Ungraded $265 - eBay link

48C Back Ungraded $194.25 - eBay link

RETURN OF THE JEDI

48D Back Ungraded $159.99 - eBay link

65A Back AFA80 (C90/B80/F80) $266 - eBay link

65B Back Ungraded $92 - eBay link

FOREIGN

Trilogo 79 Back Ungraded $305 - eBay link

TIE FIGHTER VEHICLE

There were a few boxed TIE Fighters selling during the period. This is certainly the pick of them.

Imperial TIE Fighter AFA80 $1,080.99 - eBay link

Another figure rounded out for the month. I would say there is still hope if you can sacrifice a little on quality, but if you want that killer high-grade piece it certainly will hit the wallet. Until next month, happy buying (and selling) Space Freaks...

4 comments:

  1. Just a question.....What are the names of the Facebook groups? All I can seem to locate are odd fan sites.

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    Replies
    1. The Imperial Commissary is one of them: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheImperialCommissary/?fref=nf

      -Nick

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    2. Tommy wrote a piece that lists several here: http://blog.theswca.com/2014/09/an-updated-brief-history-of-online-star.html

      In addition to those, there are groups for ESB, ROTJ, POTF, and the "Dark Times" among many others:
      https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarWarsESB/
      https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarWarsROTJ/
      https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarWarsPOTF/
      https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarWarsDarkTimes/

      Hope this helps!
      --Steve

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  2. Thanks! Gonna check them all out.

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