Excalibur Auction 22nd July

[Cazza]

Anyone else seen what's available? Cool provenance...

A PALITOY Star Wars Jawa figure with rare Vinyl Cape on original 12-back card (SW-12B) from the f

Bid Live on Lot 154 in the Diecast & Vintage Toys and Model Railway Collectors Sale Auction from Excalibur Auctions Ltd.

www.the-saleroom.com

 

[lejackal]

Astons - wasn't that the set found in the garage?

 

[welshwookie]

I don`t remember Astons mentioning the providence - only being found in a garage/skip etc ?
Wasn`t that the lot from a guy who bought lots of stuff and opened a few of the items- or am I mixing up the VCJ`s of late ?

 

[Cazza]

Wasn't the stuff in the skip the ones with Harrods/Hamleys price stickers? Loads of mailaways as well. Can't really remember- confused with all these Palitoy VCJ mocs- common as muck!

 

[welshwookie]

I had to Google...

Star Wars toys dumped in Stourbridge garage fetch £250k

They were with other vintage toys that risked being thrown away by a couple who inherited them.

www.google.com

Or https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.je...-loft-find-up-for-auction-in-dudley-uk/?amp=1

I haven't come across the collectors pervious employment being mentioned, only he was a collector.

 

[welshwookie]

Wasn't the stuff in the skip the ones with Harrods/Hamleys price stickers? Loads of mailaways as well. Can't really remember- confused with all these Palitoy VCJ mocs- common as muck!

Didn't he have a few letters from Palitoy for missing parts etc, and weapon bundles ?

 

[Cazza]

Didn't he have a few letters from Palitoy for missing parts etc, and weapon bundles ?

Rings a bell...

 

[lejackal]

Strange that they would reference the Astons sale and lot number for the Hamleys VCJ

Palitoy Star Wars Jawa with rare Vinyl Cape on 12-back card. One of the rarest carded Star Wars f

Bid Live on Lot 738 in the TOYS & COLLECTABLES AUCTION - LIVE BIDDING ONLINE ONLY - NO RESERVES Auction from Astons Auctioneers & Valuers.

www.the-saleroom.com

 

[Mini99]

I'm sure this was part of the Astons sale where it was all found in the garage in bin bags. The lots were a total mess but was Astons last ever auction. I don't remember them mentioning the fact he worked for Marvel though I thought he was like us…a hoarder of toys?

 

[lejackal]

I'm sure this was part of the Astons sale where it was all found in the garage in bin bags. The lots were a total mess but was Astons last ever auction. I don't remember them mentioning the fact he worked for Marvel though I thought he was like us…a hoarder of toys?

Two different cards - unless they've removed the sticker and creased the corner since the Astons sale

 

[welshwookie]

Wasn't there 2 vcj in the Astons auction, the 1 with the price sticker and in good condition, and a second one that had warped in the damp ?

 

[lejackal]

Wasn't there 2 vcj in the Astons auction, the 1 with the price sticker and in good condition, and a second one that had warped in the damp ?

The 2nd one had the nameplate cut

 

[welshwookie]

The 2nd one had the nameplate cut

Something was telling me there was damage with the card, it's quite easy to mix these VCJ's up of late
I think the auction house has muddled its description, by mentioning Astons, as that card isn't the same one , if so , it hasn't been looked after, althought it hasn't been displayed for the bubble not to have yellowed

 

[Mini99]

I'm sure Astons would have mentioned the Marvel connection, so as @welshwookie says above.

 

[ScruffyLookingNH]

It's been a long time since I posted, but this is too good to miss

This has answered a couple of questions that I first asked (myself, I do that a lot) 6 years ago. I'd started cataloguing all the various different Star Wars related adverts in Marvel UK comics. It wasn't even lock down, I was just that sad.

On the back of Spider-Man Weekly #265 and Mighty World of Marvel #284 (both out the first week of March 1978) appeared the advert seen here. It advertised a competition being run in Star Wars Weekly #5: Marvel UK had been given 25x full sets of the first 12 figures by Palitoy to give away.

Two things about the advert really caught my interest: Firstly, this was clearly a very early set of figures for Palitoy to have; Early Bird mailers were still be posted out in the US at the time. This then made me look closer at the figures. You may not be able to tell from the photo but Luke's sabre is quite possibly a DT. I'm pretty sure it's not a transition shape because the tip is too short which means it's either been snapped off (which would be odd on the standard sabre) or, more likely, it's recessed further up inside the outer sabre. Ben and Darth's I couldn't tell one way or the other, but Luke is a DT, I think. Obviously this is in contradiction of what is widely accepted as undisputed fact: DT Luke did not make it onto a Palitoy card.

The other thing I noticed was there were only 8 figures; missing were Tusken, Jawa, Stormtrooper, and the DSC. I put the fact that three of those were the 4th and final wave of the first 12 to be released (DSC, Tusken and Jawa: is that right? It is in my head anyway) so I thought maybe they hadn't arrived in time for the (very basic) photo for the advert and suspected the Stormtrooper was missed off because he is white and may not have shown up well in what was likely to be a black and white (or at least not colour) photo. I was also certain this photo was done "In house", i.e. by Marvel UK, not Palitoy. I thought this because it wasn't really up to much, it's not the full range and R2 is backwards This meant that Marvel had a set of SW figures in (at the very latest) Feb 1978.

So, to see these three carded figures come up now from such a source (maybe) finally answers my questions: Marvel DID get hold of the figures in early 1978. They DID do the photography in house. And of the missing 4 figures? Well, we now know where three of them ended up.

How many of you have now run off to look up the Art Director of Marvel UK between '74 and '79?? I've already got in touch with him about the 8 figures he opened, including Luke. No, not to try and get them cheaply, but to give him the heads up on what he may have, but mainly to find out if these mad ramblings are in any way correct. Would love to know.

 

[Jawaddywaddy74]

I don`t remember Astons mentioning the providence - only being found in a garage/skip etc ?
Wasn`t that the lot from a guy who bought lots of stuff and opened a few of the items- or am I mixing up the VCJ`s of late ?

If I recall correctly it was a garage/lock- up in Stroud, Gloucestershire crammed full of early examples. Looks like they are releasing assorted bits in slow drips...

 

[welshwookie]

If I recall correctly it was a garage/lock- up in Stroud, Gloucestershire crammed full of early examples. Looks like they are releasing assorted bits in slow drips...

Star Wars toys dumped in Stourbridge garage fetch £250k

They were with other vintage toys that risked being thrown away by a couple who inherited them.

www.google.com

All the bits Astons were assigned were supposedly auctioned off, as they went to the property to view it. And the skip was cancelled. I imagine they would have done a very thorough job, rooting through the property for items to list.
It`s a shame it was Astons last auction, otherwise you could find the lots on the internet somewhere.

 

[Excalibur Auctions]

Hi All!

I thought we would just jump in on the conversation here as the auction house involved to clarify a few points. I'm Jonathan and I'm the owner / auctioneer here at Excalibur Auctions and I've just about stopped shaking from having handled this when it arrived last week! It was a "no, it can't be", "surely not", "yes it is" type moment! Lol

Firstly - this has nothing to do with the Astons figure or the Astons vendor - auction houses often reference other sales of similar items to help buyers see that a) the value is appropriate for the item and b) to provide another example for them to compare to see that the item is correct. C.F. in the description literally means "compare with"

Sorry if we confused you all by having that reference in!!

This figure is completely fresh to market and has been in storage since 1978. This one also still has the shelf tag intact which the Astons one didn't!
@ScruffyLookingNH you are absolutely correct with your assumptions - the figures were part of a group supplied by Palitoy to Marvel UK for promotional purposes and they just happened to end up with our vendor. I have met the vendor in person as he has also consigned some original Marvel UK artwork and copies of reference comics to our next comics auction on 5th August including, I believe, a set of Star Wars Weekly (catalogue out soon!).

If anyone has any further questions about the Jawa or the other two then I will try and answer them to the best of my knowledge!

Jonathan

 

[welshwookie]

Hi All!

I thought we would just jump in on the conversation here as the auction house involved to clarify a few points. I'm Jonathan and I'm the owner / auctioneer here at Excalibur Auctions and I've just about stopped shaking from having handled this when it arrived last week! It was a "no, it can't be", "surely not", "yes it is" type moment! Lol

Firstly - this has nothing to do with the Astons figure or the Astons vendor - auction houses often reference other sales of similar items to help buyers see that a) the value is appropriate for the item and b) to provide another example for them to compare to see that the item is correct. C.F. in the description literally means "compare with"

Sorry if we confused you all by having that reference in!!

This figure is completely fresh to market and has been in storage since 1978. This one also still has the shelf tag intact which the Astons one didn't!
@ScruffyLookingNH you are absolutely correct with your assumptions - the figures were part of a group supplied by Palitoy to Marvel UK for promotional purposes and they just happened to end up with our vendor. I have met the vendor in person as he has also consigned some original Marvel UK artwork and copies of reference comics to our next comics auction on 5th August including, I believe, a set of Star Wars Weekly (catalogue out soon!).

If anyone has any further questions about the Jawa or the other two then I will try and answer them to the best of my knowledge!

Jonathan

Thanks for clearing that up Jonathan, as Astons are not trading anymore you can't find the auction online, to look back on.
All the best for the auction, and vendor.