This, in a nutshell, is why the market for vintage Star Wars action figures is currently on something of a roll.
Condition is everything. At a time when few children or parents thought to collect them for posterity, Star Wars figures were sold in a way that encouraged the 'box' to be torn and immediately discarded. It is the survival of the original bubble packaging that distinguishes the thousands of 'playworn' toys worth just a few pounds each from only a handful of unopened 'mint on card' figures.
Further distinctions are made for any imperfections and those that are 'punched' (as purchased in the toy shop) or 'unpunched' (factory-fresh stock).
Forty-something collectors, who queued to see the Star Wars trilogy in their youth, are now approaching their prime earning years. Prices have risen accordingly.
Boba Fett
In 1980 the Palitoy figure of Boba Fett, the bounty hunter who achieved cult status for his looks and 27 spoken words in The Empire Strikes Back, retailed at £1.50. By 1990 the figure would have sold for around £50 and a decade later for perhaps ten times more.
However, fast-forward to January 28, 2015 and toy specialists Vectis of Thornaby, near Stockton on Tees, were suggesting one of only four or five pristine examples of the Palitoy Boba Fett might now be worth £10,000-15,000.
The vendor was Craig Stevens, a former chairman of the UK Star Wars fan club now looking to buy a house in his home town of Croydon. "You think to yourself: 'I'm in a rented flat and I have got a box of figures worth as much as a house'."
The estimate (set by Mr Stevens) proved spot on and this unpunched figure found an online buyer at £15,000. Louise Harker of Vectis said: "Interestingly, the [premium-inclusive] £18,000 bid for Boba Fett would have been sufficient to pay Harrison Ford for his role as Han Solo in A New Hope, with enough left over for Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) or David Prowse (Darth Vader)."
The price is an auction record for a production action figure (only prototype figures have made more) and puts Star Wars toys in the same price bracket previously reserved for the rarest Dinky diecasts and golden age tinplate toys by the great German makers.
The previous high was a rare Palitoy figure known to collectors as the Vinyl Cape Jawa - an 'early bird' issue of one of the original series of a dozen figures that accompanied the release of the first Star Wars film in 1978. Two examples were sold in 2013: one for £11,300 on eBay and another at Vectis for £10,200.
Unopened Boxes
Mr Stevens sold 85 Star Wars 3¾in figures with a combined estimate of £50,000-75,000 across two February sales at Vectis (the second tranche offered on February 24).
All were UK issues (figures made by Palitoy of Coalville, near Leicester, are generally scarcer than those made for the US market by Kenner of Ohio) and all unopened in their original packaging. Together they realised just shy of £60,000.
Despite production runs in the hundreds of thousands, very few figures of the central Star Wars characters from the films escaped serious playwear. Only with the occasional 'motherlode' discovery of unsold stock in the basement of an old toy shop or department store is the supply chain of once ubiquitous toys replenished.
Among Mr Stevens' original '12 back' figures (so-called because the packaging showed all 12 figures from the series on the card back) was an unpunched Darth Vader - a model that remained largely unchanged across many years of production. It sold at £1500.
The figure of Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi also hardly changed after its 1978 release. Here he appeared in The Empire Strikes Back packaging that, although unpunched, included the DJ Toys price label for £1.40. Estimated at £2000-3000, he realised £4200.
Droid Demand
Among the most obscure of the vintage Star Wars action figures are the FX-7 medical droid and the assassination droid IG-88 (Bounty Hunter). Both were among the '10 New Figures' issued in 1980 as the series grew to 30.
FX-7, a multi-limbed robot stationed in the secret rebel base on the ice planet of Hoth occupies just 16 seconds of screen time in The Empire Strikes Back. And that has long been part of its appeal.
An 'unpunched' UK version had met with remarkable levels of competition at Vectis a year ago selling at £7000 against an estimate of just £50-70. Another was included in the Stevens sale but this time, with the guide set at £3000-5000, it was allowed to get away at £2300. Clearly the number of players at the top end of the market is small.
IG-88, a battered chrome war droid, was another of the bounty hunters tasked with capturing Hans Solo. This figure first appeared as IG-88 (Bounty Hunter). The name was shortened to simply IG-88 when it was packaged on The Return Of The Jedi and Tri-logo card backs. Again with a DJ Toys price label for £1.40, the example here sold to a commission bid of £4200 (estimate £2000-3000).
Doubtless the sale represented a bitter sweet moment for Mr Stevens, but it's not as if he's waved goodbye to all his entire Star Wars collection. He has retained around 10,000 pieces to decorate the new house.
The buyer's premium at Vectis was 20%.
