January 2015 MarketWatch: Post Holiday Round Up

Pete writes:

Happy January Space Freaks!

As we approach the harsh middle of Winter things are staying hot here on the General MarketWatch update. Deep in the confines of our Sandcrawler we’re trying to avoid the harsh weather that is being seen across the globe, giving us more time to bring to you some of the coolest items to hit eBay in the last month. This month we feature several items that are sure to make your jaw drop, mouths water and eyes pop from your head. With the holidays over we enter into the Winter high point for the market as collectors look more to their collections vs. giving gifts to others. Thus we always see a little bit of an influx in the market which yields some great items keeping the market hot during this cold time of year. With the New Year upon us we are posed to see a great 12 month cycle for our hobby. Why you may ask, well let’s do a quick review of some of the current things affecting the Vintage Star Wars market:

• Current economic outlook. The economy in the United States (Still the predominant market for Vintage globally) is doing well, markets are still strong and thus discretionary income is strong, this is one of the key indicators of continued appreciation of items in value.

• New media. There’s supposedly another movie in the works, who knew (J/K)? Well with that due to come out in a year it will build excitement for the brand and the ancillary hobbies and items associated with the franchise. This should continue as long as the buzz around the new movie is still positive, even if there are people on strike from buying, i.e. a random group of people from RS.

• General growth in all things old. Whether it’s American Pickers or Pawn Stars, collectibles are still hot areas of growth due to the continued presence on TV.

All these things combine to create a very strong petri dish for the market to flourish. In fact, if you’re on the fence about selling, it might be a great time to dump some extra pieces on the market this year. Top dollar is being paid and given the factors I mentioned above it will probably stay that way for the short-term and more than likely the long-term.

Any-who, onto the MarketWatch General update. We have 7 auctions to talk about this month, some random, some rare, all cool in their own way.   Let’s take a Luke at what we have, I mean a “look” at what we have, well let’s just start by looking at Luke.

Okay people, we have the mother of all proof cards this month. It’s hard to say that one image from the Vintage line is more synonymous with the hobby then any other, as all have a special connection with the collecting community, and those that experienced this line at large. However I’m going out on a limb and say the Luke Skywalker original artwork for the 12 back could be that one image that is more recognizable to anyone then any other image from the line. Carried across all three movies it had a lot of impressions with the youth of that generation as it was on store shelves for nearly 7 years. In the end when you look back at the time, Luke was the key star of the movies, he was the hero in a time before anti-heroes became the real heroes of the movie. So when the proof card for the 12A Luke Skywalker comes on the market, everyone should take notice as this truly is a rarity to see surface in a day and age when there is such minimal trading of 12 back proofs.

How rare you might ask, well it might surprise you that 4 of these have been graded to date, with a total of 6 other characters having 12 Back A proofs graded as well. So although this isn’t one of kind it’s truly in the minority of proof cards when you think there’s 2500+ Revenge proofs and over 1500+ Empire Proofs out in the market.

Given the iconic aspects of this piece it’s easy to see why a large price-tag would be attached to the item.    And unlike most items on the MarketWatch this went into the high atmosphere garnering a 5-digit price of just over $10,000. As Michael Fassbender once said, "I don’t know Karate, but I know Karazee"…and although this isn’t really that crazy given the context of the piece, it’s still the price of car for a piece of cardboard and that boggles the mind of 99% of the population.  

Luke Skywalker SW 12A Proof Card – AFA 85 $10,350

Luke Skywalker Proof Card - Star Wars 

Moving on in our review we have a very simple question: what’s better than getting to talk about a Glasslite auction?  Getting to talk about two of them which featured multiple items in each auction! 

First off we have a grouping of boxed vehicles from the line. All of which are sealed and graded by AFA. I’ve always been fond of this line as some of the artwork is really detailed and reminiscent of some of the unused concepts for the POTF line as well as the production pieces from that line and the Droids series. Glasslite vehicles command a premium on their own but having three vehicles is quite a sight.

Glasslite Graded Vehicle $7,500

Glasslite Vehicles

The second set of Glasslite ttems is quite a great run. Not only do you have a sampling of loose figures including some great unique releases from the Glasslite line, but you have some small vehicles, and of course the quintessential piece from the Glasslite series -- Vlix! Not only do we have some unique figures to the Glasslite release like the aforementioned Vlix, as well as the matte version of C-3PO. In addition you have a great sampling of the Glasslite made versions of the domestic release figures. Throw in a pair of the Droids release small vehicles and you have a mega lot of Brazilian goodness.  

Glass Lite Figure and Vehicle Lot - $3,499

Glasslite Figure and Vehicle Lot

Keeping with the foreign theme we have a great example of an R2-D2 on a Meccano square cardback.   The Meccano line is a favorite of many long time collectors as well as those new to the game. The cardbacks are very vivid and feature unique takes on artwork as well as aesthetics given the unique shape of the cardbacks. This piece was particularly pricey even for a Meccano figure as similar items have gone for substantially less in the last year, but if you’re in the market for a piece like this you better jump on it while you can, as there are only a handful out there.

R2-D2 Meccano Square Card $7,101

Meccano R2-D2

With November focus on the 'Chive Cast we saw a lot of time spent on the Armored Dog Driver known as the AT-AT Driver. One particular piece that "Brisbane Brisbane" Mike was able to find was the POTF MOC figure of the AT-AT Driver -- quite a rare piece. Then with our Gifts Under a $1,000 update from December we saw a steal of a deal on a Gamorrean Guard, the 2nd of the 3 extremely rare ROTJ figures to be found on POTF cardbacks. This month we follow suit with another of the super rare POTF figures -- Nikto. Like the POTF AT-AT Driver, Nikto went for big bucks, and was fairly in line with other examples that have come up on the market in the past few years. These continue to appreciate in value and are key items for POTF focus collectors and those just looking for something rare from the production run.   

Nikto POTF MOC - $5,999

Nikto POTF MOC

At one point in time we said we would never cover these pieces Well call me a liar but when I saw an Early Bird set come up and sell for $5K+ my interest was piqued. Here we have a great example of a graded set of the figures. I always say AFA is for those that want it and it doesn’t always make sense, but with mailers I’m 100% convinced that AFA enhances the visibility and appearance of any set. In the case of the Early Bird set it’s even more enhanced given the number of pieces involved.  

Early Bird - $5,049

Early Bird AFA 85 

Rounding out our coverage for this month is a line that we started off with last month that's always a hot topic: the Uzay line. Instead of having figures this month we have one of hte very rare mini-rigs that is MIB. Much like their brethren in the MOC line, the boxed Uzay items have their own campy and outdated charm. They don’t feature HP calculators, and use similar imagery to the domestic production line. However they aesthetically are a mess. With print quality that looks like it was done on someone’s Commodore 64, they have a unique type of charm, and are truly in a class of their own.

Uzay MLC-3 With Box $565

Uzay MLC-3

That wraps up the coverage of the market for this month. Stay warm and keep checking back at 

The SWCA dot com for other great blog updates from a galaxy far, far away.  

Wampa Wampa,

FB24

The Palitoy Death Star: Ingenuity + Frugality = Greatness

Ron writes:

Recently, my friend Yehuda Kleinman told me about the differences he'd noticed among the various versions of what is usually known as the "Palitoy Death Star." I asked him to write this summary putting them into context. So without further ado, here's guest blogger Yehuda on one of my favorite Star Wars toys.

Yehuda writes:

As Kenner Star Wars toys took the United States by storm, it wasn't long before the rest of the world was to follow. Kenner toys -- having successfully risen to the challenge of delivering action figures, playsets and vehicle toys for the first Star Wars movie to children in the United States -- was poised to now market these toys to children throughout the rest of the world.
              
Kenner toys, being a United States-based toy manufacturer, partnered with well-established foreign toy manufactures in different parts of the world to take over production of the Star Wars toys for the various foreign markets.

Foreign toy manufacturing companies ran into several additional financial obstacles during the production of Star Wars toys. First and foremost, a large licensing fee had to be paid to Kenner for the privilege of producing the toys. Another financial hurdle, particularly for the European markets, was the higher cost of plastics and plastic manufacturing.

In order to make producing toys in the foreign markets feasible and profitable, cost cutting measures had to be taken. This article will be one in a series focusing on the unique differences of the toys and playsets produced worldwide due to this phenomenon. Collectors have grown to appreciate these rare foreign sets for their unique, kitschy, cheaper appearance and alternate features, many of them made with differing materials. Although these changes, at times, decreased the play value of a toy, surprisingly, the changes were often an improvement over the original, more expensive designs. In the case of the Death Star, the necessary changes yielded a beloved, completely unique toy not available in the United States. This post will focus on the European Death Star playset. Originally designed and manufactured by the Palitoy company as an answer to Kenner's "Death Star Space Station." The article will also delineate differences in the sets as they were manufactured globally by other companies.

One of the most well known alliances that Kenner toys ever had was with the Palitoy toy company located in the United Kingdom. 

Palitoy was able to produce the first 20 carded figures in a fashion nearly identical to those released in the United States. Though their packaging required minor design changes, there was no sacrifice in quality. However, the financial burdens required by design changes significantly increased with the size of the toy. In general, the larger the plastic toy to be made, the more radical the changes that will be found in the foreign editions.

The Kenner Death Star Space Station was by far the biggest playset that Kenner manufactured for the first Star Wars film. It featured four large plastic floors, and included a plastic elevator, drawbridge, gunner floor with exploding gun, and a working trash compactor with trap door. In order to manufacture a Death Star to Kenner standards, Palitoy had to produce a version with all these features and at the same time keep costs low by using very little plastic. Their solution was cardboard. Where other toys were concerned, Palitoy did its best to stay true to the original Kenner designs. With the cardboard Death Star, however, they created an entirely original design -- one that completely reinterpreted the features of the Kenner toy. 

Termed simply the "Death Star" on the box or the " Death Star Play Centre" on the instruction sheet, the playset was a sturdy cardboard hemisphere with colorful graphics measuring approximately 24 inches in diameter and 12 inches in height. Its only plastic parts were a plastic garbage chute; 12 plastic clips to attach the walls of the playset to the base (of which only 10 are needed and two are spare); 6 clear plastic figure stands; a small, very flimsy black gunner chair with a clear canopy; and two guns (identical to those found on the X-Wing).

Palitoy's solution to the Death Star was later adopted by four other countries for manufacture due to its successful cost-cutting measures. Each of the five countries featured minor variations in either packaging or in the playset itself.

The toy was manufactured in Great Britain by Palitoy, Australia by Toltoys Australia, New Zealand by Toltoys New Zealand, France by Meccano, and Canada by Kenner Canada.

Each Country produced a unique box and unique set of instructions, yielding five boxed variations. The Kenner Canada playset also has a special offer version sold through the Sears Christmas Wishbook, which included a special offer sticker advertising two free Stormtroopers included with the playset, bringing the total number of boxed variations to six. 

These are as follows:

1. UK: Death Star - Standard palitoy box.

2. France: Etoile Noir - Same graphics, but with text translated into French, and a Meccano logo.

3. Kenner Canada: Death Star - Same graphics, but with Kenner logo.

4. Kenner Canada: Death Star - Special offer with sticker advertising two included stormtroopers, and a  Kenner logo.

5. Australia: Death Star - Toltoys logo.

6. New Zealand: Death Star - Toltoys logo, and a unique board-game-style box with a bottom and a lid.

The loose sets, however, comprise only three variations, as the those released in the United Kingdom and France are identical and share Palitoy markings. Additionally, the Toltoys Australia playset is identical to the loose Toltoys set native to New Zealand. 

The loose variation breakdown is as follows:

1. Britain and France: The standard Palitoy version, with Palitoy logo on base. 

2. Australia and New Zealand: Nearly identical, but with two major differences. First, and most obvious, the base features the base features the Toltoys logo and associated information.  

Second, the Toltoys version is made from a material is that is quite different from its European counterpart. Specifically, it's slightly denser. In addition, parts from this set can be differentiated from the Palitoy version by looking at the most superficial layer of the cardboard just beneath the graphics layer on either side of each part. The cardboard on these sets is brown in the innermost portion but tan on the more superficial layers below the graphics, giving the cardboard a striped appearance.

3. Canada: Produced by Kenner Canada subsidiary Irwin Toys, a board game manufacturer, this version lacks graphics on the bottom of the base. Instead, it features a leatherette backing similar to what would be found on the back of a board game. Additionally, Canada being a bi-lingual country, with laws mandating that commercial goods feature both English and French markings, there are some language differences on the Canadian version of the toy. Specifically, the sign above the the trash compactor is printed in both English and French. This is especially interesting considering that, in France, Meccano released the standard Palitoy set printed only in English. 

Some other thoughts.

1. The parts of all these sets are compatible, and many sets have been pieced together over the years, leading to a lot of hybrids. 

2. All sets were accompanied by an instruction sheet from the country of origin.

3. All sets came with two plastic bags, a large one for the cardboard parts and a smaller one for the plastic ones, and no cardboard box inserts. 

4. The set came with two mirrored stickers, to be applied to the base.

5. Some of the Palitoy playsets came with the rare mini-catalog featuring the cardboard Death Star on its cover.

6. The plastic guns are the same as the standard guns found on the X-Wing vehicle.


7. Canada was the only country to have both the plastic version and the cardboard version of the Death Star available at retail. Even Kenner Canada's plastic Death Star had unique packaging. Not only was the box bilingual, it had a unique closure, opening with a hinge situated on the long axis.

8. There are other noticeable differences between the sets, including color variations in printing and slight size changes in cutout size.

9. Of note, the clear plastic stands that were included with the playset were manufactured by Palitoy for their Action Force line. Below is a picture of an Action Force weapon pack, which includes a Palitoy figure stand as well as another rare Star Wars part, the alternate rifle for the Hoth Stormtroper given away as a premium in Germany with a YPS comic.

Below you will also see pictures of the seventh -- and rarest -- version of the playset. Titled The "Ice Star" it was only available in Seattle in the Summer of 2013.

'Chive Cast 58 - Imperial Commander Crisp

This month is frontloaded with nonsense as Steve bears with Skye defending his unpopular pronunciations of the AT-AT and Nien Nunb, then the show proceeds at a nice crisp pace with Gus jumping on to discuss the history of the Archive and we give ALL the details of the Archive Party II. We're talking giveaways, contests, parody cardbacks and how you get tickets and when they go on sale. Coins? Patches? Pins? Custom 4-Ups? How can you be one of the 25 SUPREME MASTERS? Listen and find out. We get Derek Ho on from the future in Singapore and we discuss collecting the Imperial Commander and a little on the history of collecting proof cards post 2002. We've also got a bonus interview with Thorsten Lafos from Germany. And, the less said about Skye’s new song the better. Nugget, Unloved Items, and MarketWatch Vlix is Right included.

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Image Sources and Show Note Links: 

• Archive Party II Event Page
• 9 Holy Grails in a Row
• Nugget: Imperial Commander Wax Sculpt 
• Unloved: Dimensional Plastic Heads on Fuzzy Slippers
• Imperial Commander - Rebelscum Photo Archive
• John C.'s Imperial Commander Carded Run
• Imperial Commander of Cheltenham
• Imperial Commander in Black
• Imperial Commander in Gray
• Captain Needa Lives
• Captain Needa Dies

Alberta Vacation

Ron writes:

In 2009, I traveled to Canada to attend Shane Turgeon's Edmonton Collectible Toy and Comic Show.

Afterwards, Gus Lopez, Alyssa Loney, Elling Haug, Chris Georgoulias, and I drove around the region, stopping to ski, visit a museum dedicated to stuffed gophers (yes, stuffed gophers), and have fun at the expense of Star Trek.

I recorded a lot of the trip using a Flip video camera, then put together this little movie. I thought I'd share it on this blog. I apologize for the stuttery playback; hopefully it's not too bad. This version has been edited to remove the (mildly) inappropriate content that was present in the original (there may have been a collector who mooned the camera, but I will neither confirm or deny this rumor); however, a cuss word or two remains. So be advised if you're sensitive to that sort of thing.

Trivia: It was during this trip that the cereal box parodies given away at one of the Celebrations were discussed for the first time.

If you're curious about the documentary featured in the video, it's called "Pegwarmers." It features Gus and Shane, and is focused on extreme fandom. It's worth checking out. The catchy musical number is from the film's premier.

Oh, Luis Villagomez makes an appearance as well. How can you not want to watch a video that features Luis Villagomez?

'Chive Cast 57: 2014 Annual 'State of the Hobby' Roundtable

Here we have our second kind-of-annual "State of the Hobby" Roundtable. Skye, Steve, Chris Georgoulias, and Ron Salvatore discuss the Vintage influences and impacts of the new The Force Awakens trailer; fanboys and the importance (or lack thereof) of being a Star Wars fan in collecting Star Wars toys; the relative coolness (or lack thereof) of collecting Vintage; they come up with a kind of definition for "Vintagesploitation"; Skye introduces the UDE Theory, the Beatles Theory, and proposes that collecting Modern prototypes is the new Vintage collecting. Plus there is a vicious knock em out-drag em out battle Deb-8-D-8 between Chris and Skye over the correct pronunciation of Lando's copilot in the Falcon. Finally, there is a new feature that teaches how to speak Star Wars...in Polish.

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Image Sources and Show Note Links: 

• StarWars.com - Episode VII: The Force Awakens 
• Trailer Reaction Comic Strip 
• Han Shot First Video 
• Unproduced Droids and Ewoks 
• Fanpop.com - The Beatles
• Billboard.com - Oasis
  

Making It Legal

Gus writes:

As fans of the Star Wars saga, we are frequently immersed in the story, film, or collectibles and sometimes forget that behind all the creativity poured into Star Wars, none of this would be possible with the foundation of Star Wars as a business. George Lucas began work on Star Wars immediately after release of his hit film, American Graffiti, in 1973. To begin work on Star Wars, Lucas needed to settle several details to get others involved, receive services for that work, and agree to payments and credits for those services.

This employment contract between George Lucas and Gary Kurtz, dated January 10, 1974, outlines the terms of their employment agreement. Kurtz had worked with Lucas on American Graffiti, and this Producer's agreement states that Kurtz would get full credit on the film, The Star Wars. The single exhibit to the contract gives details about the film credit that Kurtz would receive, "Produced by Gary Kurtz," and other specifics such as Guild requirements and size of the credit.

In the document, The Star Wars Corporation agrees to pay Kurtz $50,000 for producing the film and 5% of net profits of the film (with some legalese about how net profits are calculated). The bulk of the agreement specifies details about the services provided by Kurtz. The final page of the main body of the contract has signatures by George Lucas (representing The Star Wars Corporation) and Gary Kurtz (Kinetographics). Kurtz's company, Kinetographics, was incorporated January 16, 1974 in California.

For The Empire Strikes Back, Harrison Ford's employment agreement (as "Harrison Ford Productions") is with Chapter II Productions Limited, the production company for the film. Chapter II was founded in June 1978 and opened its offices in October of that year. The contract between Ford and Chapter II references other agreements, specifies that Harrison Ford Productions represents Harrison Ford's services, and guarantees the performance of Harrison Ford on the production.

These legal documents are all directly signed by the principals. At the time, these may have served as boiler plate legal agreements to conduct business, but in light of the unparalleled success of Star Wars, these documents seem more like historical artifacts to the collector.

Both were recently added to the Archive Database, along with some other entries which can be found in the New Acquisitions section.

Hanging Matters

Ron writes:

Every serious collector eventually considers framing a flat collectible. It's a rite of passage!

But framing is often complicated and expensive, especially where larger items are concerned. Many are the collectors who've been defeated by the expense of framing their prized possessions. Also, professional framers will sometimes frame collectibles in ways that hurt their values. Ever heard the one about the poster collector who got one of his pieces framed, hung it on the wall for ten years, then discovered upon de-framing it that it had been dry-mounted to a piece of board?

So I thought I'd share some frame sources that have served me well over the years. Both will make you a custom frame that you can put together yourself, thereby ensuring that you know exactly what went into your framing project.

Warning: This post features no framed Star Wars collectibles!

Hollywood Poster Frames' Deluxe Frame is a great solution for pieces the size of a standard movie poster.

If you want to frame an item that is around the size of a theatrical-release movie poster (41" x 27"), give Hollywood Poster Frames a try. Proprietor Sue Heim has been selling frames to poster collectors for years, and she's always very helpful when it comes to finding the most advantageous set-up for your piece. I'm a big fan of her Deluxe Frame, which features UV-filtered plexiglass, archival foamcore backing, and a slick-looking rounded profile. The UV-filtering and archival backing are essential for conservation: they'll help ward off fading due to light exposure, and minimize the deteriorating effects of acid.

Hollywood Poster Frames can do larger sizes, but they tend to be tough to ship. So unless you have the ability to pick up the frames in person (HPF is in Chatsworth, CA), you'll need to find a different framing option for large items.

A Spotlight Displays frame. The poster in this photo is about five feet tall.

A source for large frames that I've found very helpful: Robert Perry's Spotlight Displays. Robert's frames are comprised of two plastic overlays; these are used to sandwich the piece and hold it in place. The overlays fit into the outer frame portion, which snaps shut around them, holding them to tight in one rectangular package. Because the overlays can be rolled, and the frame comes apart in sections, larger frames can be shipped without too much trouble -- a real godsend when dealing with items of this size. Though these frames aren't "archival" in the same sense as the ones made by Hollywood Poster Frames, the plastic overlays do have UV-filtering properties, which should limit light damage to some degree. I've used my Spotlight frames in areas removed from direct sunlight, and I haven't noticed any fading.

A Spotlight Displays frame used for an unusually sized Japanese poster.

The last hanging option I'm going to mention doesn't involve frames at all. Rather, it's an aluminum bar device that allows posters to be hung using nothing more than a few plastic clips and gravity. Designed by Jorgen Moller, the minimalistic Poster Hanger is great for larger items that have been linen-backed. It's inexpensive and attractive, and it allows for easy swapping of posters. Obviously, this system has its drawbacks. For instance, it offers no protection from either light or abrasions. But I've gotten a lot of use out of the several I own, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy more -- if only I had the wall space!

I've used Poster Hanger to hang linen-backed posters, such as this large French example.

If you've been struggling with hanging, I hope this post has suggested a few solutions. If you get anything framed, stop by the blog and share some photos.

Two Hollywood Poster Frames flanking a Spotlight Displays frame.