MOC Empire Strikes Back Palitoy Darth Vader

stumble

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Hi All.

My parents are having a big sort out and found this:
https://imgur.com/a/AZ7MEMb

We guess it was bought for me around Christmas 1982 / 83, but someone else in the family got me the same figure. So this one was packed away and forgotten about.

The card is clean and straight. The bubble is intact, but creased slightly on top. You can see this in the photo of the front - between his hand and knee, on the right hand side. There is a scuff across the card on the front, top right.

Could you please help me with a valuation? Searching for ESB Palitoy Darth Vader auctions on ebay only brings up items with the Palitoy logo on the front of the card.

Many thanks!
 

lejackal

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Welcome to the forum, that's a lovely card!

One sold on eBay.com a year ago at auction for £423 which was graded but had a cracked bubble.

I wouldn't be surprised if yours was in the £500-700 range but there are more knowledgeable Palitoy collectors that will be able to help with a more accurate valuation.

I'll message a couple of them.
 

olisuds

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I'd say it was a bit more than that in today's market. Whilst the non logo 45b is a little less desirable. Vader is a relatively rare one and it looks in great shape. I'd say £800+

I'm putting together a run of 45b myself so please let me know if you are looking to part with this as I'd definitely be interested in buying.

Cheers Oli
 

ScruffyLookingNH

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Wonderful :) Palitoy 45B card, which is why you don't have the Palitoy logo. Vader is quite hard to find which is why one which will make an OK (and only) OK reseal just ended for £54 on eBay.

Olisuds (edit - just seen your response now) here has done a bit of a guide on rarity of Palitoy 45Bs and has this listed as "Very Rare". Other than the reseal I've not seen one for sale in a very long time.

Always hard to tell with Palitoy 45B cardbacks what they will go for, but seen some sell for stupid money of late so best advice would be auction. Personal preference being ebay. Carl's estimate is entirely reasonable, I think, but you really can't tell.

Please, whatever you do, don't respond to any PMs asking for a direct sale as you will NOT get best price, guaranteed. It's also a weasily move by the PMers, especially when it's directed to those who don't understand just how contested the acquisition of Palitoy items can be. You have a very desirable figure there.

If you do put him up on auction please be sure to post the link back here. You'll find plenty of willing bidders, myself included.
 

stumble

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Thank you for the replies and information so far.

So this is classified as a 45B version?
And £600-£800 would be a reasonable expectation at auction, but with the chance it could go for more with the right bidders?
 

olisuds

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For what it's worth here was my breakdown on rarity although it's hard to distinguish some of them as most 45b other than a handful are quite rare. I think Andy Clarke felt there were a few more Vader's out there and it should be a 'Rare' rather than 'Very Rare'. He had 2 himself at one point. On that basis I changed Vader to 'Rare' as I had intended to use 'very rare' when only 1 or 2 examples known. It's fairly subjective and I'm not that experienced to say either way myself.
 

olisuds

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stumble said:
Thank you for the replies and information so far.

So this is classified as a 45B version?
And £600-£800 would be a reasonable expectation at auction, but with the chance it could go for more with the right bidders?

Yes definitely a 45b. I'd be very surprised if it didn't go to above £800+ at auction due to rarity, condition and popularity of character.
 

ScruffyLookingNH

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stumble said:
Thank you for the replies and information so far.

So this is classified as a 45B version?
And £600-£800 would be a reasonable expectation at auction, but with the chance it could go for more with the right bidders?

You've got it :)
 

Andyclarke

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Personally, I think £800 is a bit on the high side. I've had a couple of these myself and come across a couple of others besides. If someone is offering £800 I'd snatch their hands off.
 

olisuds

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You're probably right Andy, I guess I was just hoping that stumble would snatch my hands off :D

Funnily enough this morning I just spotted Pat over on Rebelscum has one. Not sure if it's one you owned Andy but either way that's 3-4 further examples I wasn't aware of so I'd go with your judgement that it's more of a 'rare' than 'very rare'.

Anyway I'd be happy to pay a competitive price for it or otherwise would appreciate getting heads up if it goes on eBay. Not that eBay is necessarily going to always give best price. I'm sure we've all picked up our fair share of bargains or lost stuff at a fraction of its price. There are no guarantees. And then there are the eBay and PayPal fees to consider.
 

Wreck-It Ralph

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olisuds said:
For what it's worth here was my breakdown on rarity although it's hard to distinguish some of them as most 45b other than a handful are quite rare. I think Andy Clarke felt there were a few more Vader's out there and it should be a 'Rare' rather than 'Very Rare'. He had 2 himself at one point. On that basis I changed Vader to 'Rare' as I had intended to use 'very rare' when only 1 or 2 examples known. It's fairly subjective and I'm not that experienced to say either way myself.

Fascinating list, must take a lot of knowledge and experience to formulate a list like that!

Is there a big value difference between 45A and 45B?

Are the figures with TT against them also available as original and how does that affect thier rarity?
 

sith-smith

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Yes I agree. That's a great list you have done there.

With regards to your question Anthony, there is usually a huge difference between 45a and b.

Though a great looking card, there's never as much demand as people prefer the cards with the logo.

Even If the b version is rarer the a will usually get a higher price.

TT versions still seem to command reasonable prices. Logically I would have thought that an original one would be significantly more. Not seen as recent sales to give an example though
 

Wreck-It Ralph

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sith-smith said:
Yes I agree. That's a great list you have done there.

With regards to your question Anthony, there is usually a huge difference between 45a and b.

Though a great looking card, there's never as much demand as people prefer the cards with the logo.

Even If the b version is rarer the a will usually get a higher price.

TT versions still seem to command reasonable prices. Logically I would have thought that an original one would be significantly more. Not seen as recent sales to give an example though

So are the Chewbacca, Bossk and Tie Fighter still common in original condition (not TT)?

Does the 45C Rarity List differ much from the 45B?
 

Wreck-It Ralph

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stumble said:
Hi All.

My parents are having a big sort out and found this:
https://imgur.com/a/AZ7MEMb

We guess it was bought for me around Christmas 1982 / 83, but someone else in the family got me the same figure. So this one was packed away and forgotten about.

The card is clean and straight. The bubble is intact, but creased slightly on top. You can see this in the photo of the front - between his hand and knee, on the right hand side. There is a scuff across the card on the front, top right.

Could you please help me with a valuation? Searching for ESB Palitoy Darth Vader auctions on ebay only brings up items with the Palitoy logo on the front of the card.

Many thanks!

Hi Sorry to ask a non valuation question but do you know anymore about the history of the piece like when it was bought, who it was bought for and for what occasion and why it was never played with, why was it put into storage and how it was found as I find this more interesting than its Market Value.
 

olisuds

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Wreck-It Ralph said:
Fascinating list, must take a lot of knowledge and experience to formulate a list like that!

Is there a big value difference between 45A and 45B?

Are the figures with TT against them also available as original and how does that affect thier rarity?

Not a great deal of experience from my side. Just based on research of past sales on eBay, Vectis and Forums as well as various past posts and conversations I found mostly involving input from Gary, Jason, Andy and others.

I'm not that experienced at telling the difference from Toy Toni's so cant be sure how common legit examples are however I've seen quite a number of Chewbacca's with store price stickers.
 

stumble

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Wreck-It Ralph said:
Hi Sorry to ask a non valuation question but do you know anymore about the history of the piece like when it was bought, who it was bought for and for what occasion and why it was never played with, why was it put into storage and how it was found as I find this more interesting than its Market Value.

This info is all already in the first post. I don't know exactly where it was bought.
 

Zimmorrr

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Hey guys, I'm new here. My name is Mattias and I come from Sweden.

I came across this post and saw the list of rare 4b cardbacks. I habe this one with a Swedish price sticker.

I know its rough but what would u value this at?
 

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