Advice needed for sale of large vintage collector by nOOb

Hi, and thanks in advance for your advice.

Back story...

When my siblings and I were kids my parents bought us all SW, ESB, and ROTJ when they were first released. This is not their story, rather it is about all the duplicates they bought at the same time and threw in a box. These are all US/Kenner toys

I am going to sell them for my parents, but not being a Sw collector, I am hoping for some targeted advice (i do collect and trade music, so i have some knowledge transfer).

Everything i have is never opened, MOC, etc. Alas no plastic cape jawa or double telescopes.

1. Advice on when to grade vs. not for figures. I sold the ROTJ 4" figures a couple of years ago. I assume the 12 backs should all be graded, but what about 20, 47, 48? Also have original 12" luke, han, and leia.

2. What about grading of vehicles and playsets? Is it worth it? I have a never opened sears creature cantina, darth vader tie fighter (sw), land speeder, etc.

3) weapons... I know i have the sealed rifle. Shrink wrap has shrunk and crunched the box.worth grading?

4) lastly, a couple of the unopened figures have some white powder on them. I've read online and it sounds like that may be mold or fungus. I have isolated those and am wondering what I can do. Thinking maybe putting under UVC light.

I have been educating myself as much as possible on variations so as to not do something stupid. Any other advice would be appreciated.

Hi there.

Great story you have there. A nice little legacy that your parents have there.

My first piece of advice is re the grading. If you are purely selling to max your profit then grading may get you a higher return. However it is not without risk. The better grading house is afa. It means shipping all your stuff to the states and back and risking damage. Plus the big question is on condition. You will waste money if you have something graded and it scores poorly. This is the main call you would need to make. The best advice I could give you here is to take photos of what you have and post them into a photo bucket. You will get good advice on what grades you might get if you graded them, but nothing is guaranteed as grading is a subjective opinion.

Where are you going to sell these? Are you planning on a forum sale, eBay or if you live anywhere near the new forest I can give you some good advice as to a toy show held 3 times a year where you would do very well with a sellers table and the right Mocs.

For the best return and a bit of work you should sell them individually as you will only get a bulk price from a dealer. If you just want to let them go as one there are a couple of collectors who deal on the side who are very fair with their prices. Some stuff would be sold on and some kept.

It sounds like you are approaching this with your head screwed on right. Best of luck with this. Hopefully you will consider selling some of the collection here as you will get a lot of interest. Be careful of messages you may get as vintage stuff has never been so valuable. With this value brings greed. It will be a good time to sell.

Finally, take some time to read some of the packing threads here. There is some great advice as to how to send these things safely through the post. Graded cards do not travel well and some of the bigger vehicles cost a fortune to send graded. There's a lot of plastic in there.

Pictures speak a thousand words

As previously mentioned picture's would do you some justice and also an individual item listing.

Thanks for your help.

Here is the list of the items I have catalogued so far. Far shots for most. I included a more close up shot of the Leia and Vader 12-backs, which are both unpunched. Most of them are in pretty good shape. Some have minor creases (1-2cm) that you can see on the back, but not on the front. The R2D2 12-back has a crushed plastic bubble that is cracked. The ESB C3PO has yellow plastic bubble.

I also included zoomed in shots of the two figures with the white powder (almost looks like ice), which are the Chewie and Death Squad Commander. These are the ones I was thinking I might expose to UVC light if it is indeed a mold of some sort. Anyone seen this issue before or know how to address?

My plan is to sell individually. Would like a venue other than eBay to avoid seller fees, but not sure there is another venue where I'd get as much as I'd get from eBay net of fees. Also worried about getting ripped off.

I still live in the States, so sending to AFA is less an issue than for those of you on the other side of the pond. I will read the threads here for more advice on shipping. You'll see in the pictures that I do have star cases.


Small figures
Sand People (SW12B) - AFA 80 (B=85, F=85, C=80)
Ben (SW12A) - AFA 85 (B=85, F=85, C=80)
C3PO (SW12A) - AFA 80 (B=75, F=85, C=80)
Chewbacca (SW12A) - AFA 75 (B=75, F=85, C=80)
Death Squad Commander (SW12A) - AFA 85 (B=85, F=85, C=80)
Darth Vader (SW12A) unpunched - AFA 85 (B=85, F=85, C=85)
Han Solo small head (SW12A) - AFA 80 (B=75, F=85, C=80)
Jawa (SW12C) - AFA 80 (B=80, F=90, C=80)
Leia (SW12A) unpunched - AFA 85 (B=90, F=85, C=85)
Luke (SW12A) - AFA 85 (B=85, F=85, C=80)
R2D2 (SW12A) - AFA 40 (B=40, F=85, C=85)
Stormtrooper (SW12C)
Snaggletooth (SW20F) - AFA 75 (B=75, F=80, C=80)

4-LOM (ESB-48C) unpunched - AFA 85 (B=85, F=80, C=85)
Bespin Guard (white) (ESB-31A) unpunched
C3PO (ESB-47) unpunched
*Dengar (ESB-41a) unpunched AFA 80 (80/80/85)
Imperial Stormtrooper (ESB-31A) unpunched
FX-7 (ESB-31A)
Han (hoth) (ESB-31A) unpunched
*IG-88 (ESB-32A) unpunched AFA 75 (75/85/85)
Lando (ESB-31B) unpunched
Leia (bespin) (ESB-31) unpunched - AFA 85 (B=90, F=85, C=85)
Luke Bespin (ESB-31) unpunched - AFA 85 (B=85, F=80, C=85)
R2D2 (ESB-47) unpunched
Rebel Soldier (Hoth) (ESB-31B) unpunched
*Yoda (ESB-32 b) AFA 80Y (80/80/85)

Emperor (ROTJ mail away) with box addressed to me

Large figures
Leia 12"
Luke 12"
*Vader 15"
*Chewie 15"

Creatures
Patrol dewback (SW)
Taun Taun (ESB)
Wampa (ESB)


Vehicles
Darth vader tie fighter (SW)
Landspeeder (SW) - AFA 85
Tie fighter (POTF) - AFA 80
*X-Wing (SW) - AFA 75
*Vader tie fighter (SW)
*speeder bike (ESB)

weapons
*laser pistol
*3-position rifle

There are also four figures from the first time I tried to do this for my parents. I sent four figures away to be graded, but lost steam on following through. They are
Dengar (ESB-41a) unpunched AFA 80 (80/80/85)
IG-88 (ESB-32A) unpunched AFA 75 (75/85/85)
Lobot (ESB-41A) AFA80 (80/85/85)
Yoda (ESB-32 AFA 80Y (80/80/85)

I couldn't attach the pictures of two figures with the whitish powder on the previous post, so here they are.

Wow they are in amazing condition. Be sure to check the Luke, Vader and Ben 12 backs to make sure they're not the double telescoping versions.

Oh wow, thanks for putting those photos up. Always a pleasure to see a new set of 12 backs surfacing. Youre parents are going to do well from this lot. And those vehciles; awesome! Not seen SW boxed items sealed and in that grade of condition.

Without a first hand, close up inspection its a hard call on whether to grade. Personaly, i dont like graded items but if you are lookking to maximize te return for your folks i suggest its the right way to go. There is going to be a considerable financial outlay involved but youd probably get that back from the extra youd then sell the 12 back Luke for. I hate saying that as I'd rather see them sold as is, but if it was me in your situation I'd grade the best, including the vehicles, to maximise return.

Your parents were very canny to do what they did. Massive respect!

wow! stunning collection. Take a look at ebay, sold listings. Many of these have been sold the last months.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Kenner-Star-Wars-1978-12-Back-A-DARTH-VADER-MOC-/301753211718?hash=item4641e49b46%3Ag%3AcBoAAOSwBmZWCZmb&nma=true&si=stjoFYNl%252BYWIixjc8OMfl%252F1NHMg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 here is an example on the A back vader.

Have sent you a PM with an offer of help

Sweet collection !

Peachy wow wa
You don't see this sort of post every day.
What fantastic parents. That is a great collection.
Thanks for coming to SWFUK

Thanks for sharing and welcome to SWFUK !
Shaky

I pulled what I think is the last stuff out of storage. I notice there is the stand from the early bird set. I don't have any loose figures. One of my brothers probably has the Luke buried away.

Just awesome!!

Wow, great collection, smart parents!!

FYI, I think your 12 back Han is the small head version, not large head as you listed. Don't think the large head version came out till the 12C back.

Yes, you are right. I've updated my original; post to say small head. Thanks

SithlordWS6 said:

Wow, great collection, smart parents!!

FYI, I think your 12 back Han is the small head version, not large head as you listed. Don't think the large head version came out till the 12C back.

Click to expand...

Hi all,

Thanks again for your help here. I've gotten some more graded items back. I've added their grades up in my list of items.

Things bode well, The R2 blister had a couple of cracks that really thrashed its rating, but others are pretty representative of the rest of the lot (mostly 80s and 85s).

I'm supposed to get the large graded figures back later this month.

I expect I will start listing on ebay later this month. Will post here when I do (after confirming it doesn't violate nay board policies)

Glad your stuff graded well. Its a bit high end for my budget but some of the guys might appreciate if you offered a few pieces for sale on here first. Just a thought but you'd get fair prices and not lose 10% to ebay.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Here are some better photos of the graded items