MarketWatch Special: Hake's Americana Auction - Round 2

Pete writes:

 Happy March, Space Freaks! So here we are just a few months later and another amazing round of items has sold off through Hake’s Americana. The second installment brought some great prices, but honestly not as many stories, and not quite as much excitement as the first auction did in 2017. Let’s face it, outside of a few pieces there wasn’t a lot of stuff to talk about here. Yes, I talk about 12 Backs and other more common pieces on the MarketWatch, but with an event like this it’s all about the rare and unique, and over all outside of 5-6 pieces the auction fell a bit flat. 

TOP PRICES REALIZED:

Boba Fett Rocket Firing Prototype AFA 85 – $86,383 – The top prize of the day was going to come down to one of two pieces: the Rocket Firing Boba Fett or the Double Telescoping Darth Vader. As you can see here, the Fett won by leaps and bounds. I’d dig into this with more coverage but it’s just not worth your time or mine. This was a fluke, and whoever paid double the high end of going rates won themselves a great prize, at a horrible price. The typical going rate for an RF Fett is around $25K-$40K, given there are around 100 RF Fett’s that have surfaced over the years and that this number hasn’t gone up that much over time. You can even circle back to Tomart’s Price Guide to Worldwide Star Wars Collectibles from the 1990s and see a value that’s pretty close to the going rate today -- partly because what was once thought to be a few, is now known to be a lot more.

Darth Vader Double Telescoping MOC AFA 70 – $64,900 – Significantly rarer than the RF Fett, the DT Darth Vader was one of the top 5 items that was referenced by Hake’s when they first marketed the series of auctions. With only 6 examples being graded by AFA over the years, this was one of the rarest production items up for grabs across the auction series. So rare in fact, that we haven’t even been able to cover the sale of one on the MarketWatch since it’s inception back in 2012. With a price point that is out of reach for most collectors, it’s actually surprising to say that this piece didn’t obtain an even higher price point given its rarity. But what held this back was the grade. As we’ve seen from other auctions historically as well as other items listed here, the grade is having a major effect on the price of the item.      

Princess Leia Organa MOC AFA 95 – $29,500 –  If you didn’t think that grades drive the price of an item, look no further (and if you need to look further go back to the results from the first Hake’s auction of this collection and look at the Luke Skywalker AFA 95 listing). Like her sibling, the original Leia reached a new high for the 12 Back version of this character. Needless to say, the best of the best gets the best price.

Hero Set 3 Pack MISB AFA90 – $14,684 – Here on the MarketWatch we love Star Wars 3-Packs, and the Hero Set is one of the staples of the line.  Again, condition drove the over all price for a piece that would typically sell under $10K for an 85 or lesser condition item. This marks the mid point in terms of the 3-Packs listed as part of the auction, meaning we will have double the amount in the next several rounds as they sell off the full collection.

Admiral Ackbar POTF Proof Card AFA 90 – $9,204 – The rarest item listed came at the fraction of the price of items that are much more readily available. However, rarity doesn’t always drive demand. In the case of this Mon Calamari, the end price was actually much higher then anticipated even with its rarity. Given the trajectory of proofs in the hobby, it’s not surprising that one of the rarer POTF proofs achieved this price, though it should not be looked at as a benchmark in the hobby for this specific character or for any POTF proof in general.   

Darth Vader Collector's Case AFA75 – $14,160 – To round out the update we have another super rare production item. Unlike its brother that carried Vader, Luke and Yoda, this version of the Darth Vader Collector's Case packaged with IG-88, Bossk, and Boba Fett is extremely hard to find. Adding in the trio of figures and their over all popularity, it’s not overly surprising that this piece was able to reach the peak it did, even with its lower grade. If condition is a driver of price -- and I believe we’ve established that -- it would be interesting to see what an AFA80 or AFA85 would have brought for an ending price.   

That’s it for this update. Keep checking back for more updates on the Archive and our next round of coverage of the Hake’s Star Wars auctions coming later this year.

Wampa Wampa,

Pete

Do-Overs: Repurposed Action Figure Sculpts

Ron writes:

Here's something that's not widely known: When creating several Star Wars action figures, the sculptors at Kenner reused the sculpts for earlier figures, in the process sculpting right over the original art for some of the most recognizable pieces in the line.

It's funny to think about, right?

As a kid, did you ever imagine that your favorite figures might conceal the remnants -- the very souls! -- of figures that had come before? Had you registered this, you probably would have felt like John Randolph in the movie Seconds when he realizes that the mysterious man who keeps bothering him is actually a long-lost friend -- in someone else's body.

One figure whose original sculpt was refashioned in such a way is the Stormtrooper.

In the late '70s, during pre-production on the Empire Strikes Back line, the original wax sculpt for the Stormtrooper was pulled out of storage and remade into the Hoth Stormtrooper, one of the first figures released in conjunction with Empire.

I know what you're thinking: "Those figures don't even look all that similar!"

Well, they look similar enough. More importantly, they have the same stature and pose. They have the same construction, too, the heads of both figures being immobile extensions of their torsos.

Wax, remember, is a malleable medium, and the folks who work in it employ a combination of carving and modelling. That is, they both cut into the hardened material and add to it through a process of melting and joining.

Therefore, although the helmet of the Hoth Stormtrooper is more rather than less voluminous than that of its regular-climate counterpart, it doesn't follow that it wasn't resculpted around the head of the earlier figure. It would have been quite easy for an experienced toy sculptor to add additional wax, and then carve it into the distinctive shape of the Hoth hijab. (The mask of the Hoth Stormtrooper is actually closer to a niqab, but let's not let mundane details get in the way of some good alliteration.)

Also remember: Outward looks aren't the only things to consider when creating an action figure sculpt. What's inside matters, too.

I know this maxim isn't equally applicable to all situations. When dating, for instance, you always want to seek out the person with the best external appearance, and disregard all of that tedious internal stuff.

But where prototypes toys are concerned, you can't afford to be so shallow. As a collector, you're doing yourself a real disservice if you fail to look beneath the skin.

A wax action figure sculpt isn't just a solid chunk of pinkish stuff; its torso encompasses a brass "buck," it has nylon or brass disks embedded at the articulation points, and its thinner portions are sometimes bolstered by a wire armature. All of this helps to keep it together, stable, and in proper alignment.

But incorporating all of that junk into the wax is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. By sculpting over a piece that already has it in place, a sculptor can save himself a lot of effort.

After all, the folks at Kenner weren't in the business of preserving future collectibles; they were trying to bring toys to market. And if a few sculpts were lost in the process, then so be it. The future passions of a few nerdlingers were not dreamt of in their philosophies.

What are some other figures that were created over pre-existing sculpts?

One is Bossk.

Any idea which figure served as the basis for Bossk?

I could name it, but I'm sure the photo speaks for itself:

That's right: Bossk is a made-over Blue Snaggletooth.

I won't enumerate all the ways in which the two figures resemble each other. It's better if you compare them side by side. Pay particular attention to the snouts, the collars, and the bends in the arms.

(Please be forewarned: If you ask me if it was the dent or no-dent version of Blue Snaggletooth that served as the basis for Bossk, I will probably never speak to you again.)

It's likely that other early figures were sculpted into new figures, just as Stormtrooper and Blue Snaggletooth were. But as there is, as far as I know, no solid documentation of this, the identities of these figures must remain speculative.

Before closing out this post, I'll indulge in one bit of speculation: I think it's feasible that the sculpt for the 1978 Han Solo was reworked into the 1980 Han Hoth.

Don't think that's possible?

Pull out loose examples of each figure, and compare them closely. Note in particular the face of the large-head version of the figure, and the way in which it resembles the face of Han Hoth.

Now turn the figures on their sides and compare the arms -- the right arms in particular. 

If you want to extend this comparison to the left arms, you'll quickly notice that they, too, are very similar. Specifically, they both feature the same, very distinctive gesture, with the elbows being fairly straight, and the back of the hands turned outward, with all fingers extended.

Pretty suggestive, right? Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean anything. But it doesn't necessarily mean nothing either.

What other early sculpts do you think may have been reworked into later figures?