Is Star Wars only for the rich ?

I wouldn't want to start even trying a loose complete run these days. I think I joined the forum and started seriously collecting at the best time, before the new movies increased interest. Still about four figures off a complete run, and really need to get them before they go really silly money!

I think it is a shame the prices are so high. I put my own value on an item and will buy if I want it and if it is worth what I'm happy to pay. Unfortunately most moc's are IMO, are massively over priced so I don't bother. I also think some of the pricing of some weapons and the last 17 is just silly.

But saying that I have my very modest collection displayed in my bedroom and enjoy looking at it while listening to my vinyl records. I don't need to buy new vintage, I can just enjoy what I have, or by looking at some of the photo's on this forum (thanks for sharing ). I seem to have slipped into buying about one or two items per year and I'm just fine with that.

So long term frequent collecting (ie runs) is for the rich, but if you chill buy here and there selectively and enjoy what you have it can be for anyone.

All collecting can be either a rich or poor man's game, from collecting watches to thimbles there are high and low end items.
The most important thing to remember is to "cut your cloth to suit your purse".
Rember enjoy what you have.

I don't think its for the rich at all... not one bit actually.
I do think it is for folk that understand you can't have everything in life and those that are willing make decisions...

I know If I was into going out all the while I couldn't afford it, if I smoked I couldn't afford it and if I drank I couldn't afford it either. I have another hobby (running) which in many ways is far more expensive and more time hungry.

I think the answer is that you can collect (and more importantly enjoy) vintage star wars easily on a tight budget if you want to. You don't HAVE to own everything, you don't have to do runs, you don't have to be a focus collector. You can enjoy picking up some things when you see them at prices you feel happy paying and wide variety of items from the vintage era that you could collect is vast. Stationery (HCF) is really really cheap, trading cards are cheap, micro tins (and other tin ware) are very reasonable, sigma can be done cheap too..

With every sector in the vintage hobby there is a DT sabre Luke (or higher with Ben and Vader) or a Helix set of felt tip pens... but there is also a run of Jabba goons or HCF pencil toppers that are just as fun... maybe more as you can handle them without fear!

Isn't it tax heavy to buy from the states? On eBay and such? I mean from us in Scandinavia and UK?

I always avoid us in my searches for that reason

Collect within your means. That's always been true. The prices may have gone up but even in the early 90's when mint 12 backs were 'just' $100 - 150 they were still too rich for me. I've just settled for non-mint and only spent a bit more than that on average for a full set in the last 3 years.

Ive built a very nice collection on a budget I've the last few years after selling my 90's collection off in 2005 for relative peanuts. I never thought id get back into it, but bought, sold and traded my way up. I even picked up an early bird mailer tray recently for less than $100.

However, some things are always out of reach and I don't kick myself that I'll never own a palitoy 12 back VC jawa, painted hardcopy, rocket fett etc. I like art but don't expect to own a van Gogh.

SAVORY100 said:

I don't think its for the rich at all... not one bit actually.
I do think it is for folk that understand you can't have everything in life and those that are willing make decisions...

I know If I was into going out all the while I couldn't afford it, if I smoked I couldn't afford it and if I drank I couldn't afford it either. I have another hobby (running) which in many ways is far more expensive and more time hungry.

I think the answer is that you can collect (and more importantly enjoy) vintage star wars easily on a tight budget if you want to. You don't HAVE to own everything, you don't have to do runs, you don't have to be a focus collector. You can enjoy picking up some things when you see them at prices you feel happy paying and wide variety of items from the vintage era that you could collect is vast. Stationery (HCF) is really really cheap, trading cards are cheap, micro tins (and other tin ware) are very reasonable, sigma can be done cheap too..

With every sector in the vintage hobby there is a DT sabre Luke (or higher with Ben and Vader) or a Helix set of felt tip pens... but there is also a run of Jabba goons or HCF pencil toppers that are just as fun... maybe more as you can handle them without fear!

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Some very good points there Stephen!

Being rich helps if you want to collect those items you listed, but most stuff are locked up and even with cash it won't unlock it. Definitely vintage Star Wars collecting is not for the faint hearted!! :lol:

I started my collection with a few hundred quid. I should stress the groundwork was done before the Disney takeover, mind.

My situation isn't a typical one. I found myself homebound due to a chronic health disaster and needing rehomed to an accessable place I could be rehabilitated with. I'd spend a lot of time trawling thru literally every Star Wars auction on eBay wading thru piles of tat to get modestly described loft finds selling for modest prices. I'd keep what I wanted and clean up and sell the bits I didn't. The profits would sit in my paypal for use on the figures I needed. A couple of years of buying-and-selling and I had a loose run, the ships I had a kid in a complete ( sometimes tatty ) boxed condition and a bit more. All for very little money but lots of arsing about. I had *lots* of time on my hands and spent that time on this hobby. For me, the bulk of the hobby was the digging. It helped keep me sane during the homebound period. I still do buying and selling but to a lesser and more measured degree. I've gone too far on occasions and still have selling purges which fund bits I want.

I appreciate that my advice isn't of much use to anyone unless they end up with a hideous neurological disease or something similarly life changing but hopefully there's something to be taken from it regarding devoting some time to the hunt. I don't smoke or drink - again for health reasons - so the little expendable income helps too.

I don't have any early Palitoy MOCs using this technique. I've got some Pali 12 back reseals though.

I used to 'window shop' Star Wars toys online so I knew the stuff well. When was a busy and well man who, er, socialised like a fish, I never dreamed i would actually own the stuff.

As a side note, I don't think any collectors with these sprawling massive all encompassing collections are rich - they have just been at it for years and decades now and have built it up slowly over time. They have likely purchased all the expensive stuff at much cheaper prices in days gone by. So don't feel pressured to spend lots of money cause you think everyone else must be.

Sadly, the reality is you can't cover the same ground these days with the same amount of money you could ten years ago. To serve as example, below is the price trend for pop-up R2 from late 2013 till now. The trend line goes from £60 - £240+ in four years.

Granted he is a more expensive figure, but the trend is comparable across the board for all items. So you probably do need a higher level of disposable income to collect now the way we all used to in the past.

As mentioned elsewhere, enjoy the hunt and know when to recognize a good deal - you can save money that way if you are lucky and/or willing to compromise on condition.

Yeah I think that too. Many with the top drawer items aren't millionaires, they've just been at it longer than me. And my collection, of mostly regular items, was easier to come by than it will be now

Doing what I did about eight years ago would probably yield me half or less the goodies I have now. That's a sad fact but I hope that newcomers will be as happy with what they manage to get as I am with mine even though it's nothing like the collections that started ten years before me.

Apart from my life long love of the stuff, much of the love of my collection is that I managed to accumulate it.

subzero said:

Pomse2001 said:

Crumm said:

I completely agree with you, I prefer to just collect and not have to sell anything to fund something else. You are also right in the fact that one purchase a year is not much fun

Thanks for the heads up on the USA as a Potential LJK purchase, that one went for a reasonable price!

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I must admit I have thought a lot about selling my 90s and 00s star wars stuff and use the money for vintage. I have not bought anything of it or looked at it in 8 years. And since the prices have gone up and up then I do not have the money to collect vintage and 90s and 00s stuff at the same time. The 90s and 00 stuff does not mean that much to me, but there was a few items that I thought was cool. So I have been thinking about selling most of my 90s and 00s stuff and only keep a few items that I think is cool, like Grand Admiral Thrawn :lol: I think I have maybe 200 figures complete that have never been played with, maybe 100 moc and some playset and vehicles. But I do not know if it is worth anything today :?

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If it was me i'd be selling all that in a heartbeat :lol: imagine what vintage you could get then.

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If it is not worth much, then I can't get much vintage for it :lol:

It's possible to collect almost any Star Wars items on any budget with patience. There are loose figures that sell for £5 (Weequay) and 5k (Vlix.) There are Palitoy MOCs that sell for £30 (General Madine) and 15k (Boba Fett.) Basically whatever you want to collect there will always be cheap and expensive pieces, just collect what suits your budget. I have even see reasonably priced props and prototypes.

I think it is a question of what do you consider as being rich? More than 16 million people in the UK have savings of less than £100 from a study by the Money Advice Service (MAS). They would obviously struggle. When millions are worrying about where their next meal is coming from, anybody who dabbles collecting Star Wars is probably ok.

That being said, as I have stated before, if you go back 15 years ago, or even 5, you could pick up Star Wars significantly cheaper than now. Vintage Star wars has got caught up in a sort of bubble, like a boom and bust, but now Disney have picked up the franchise I think the ship has past of cheap vintage star wars toys.

Certainly not, collect what the rich don't want. :wink:

theforceuk said:

Certainly not, collect what the rich don't want. :wink:

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What, Bend-Ems? ;-)

Bend-Ems, for the man who has everything. :lol:

subzero said:

Bend-Ems, for the man who has everything. :lol:

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Apart from taste? :lol:

(With apologies to any Bend-Ems collectors out there! :wink: )

This is great though?
(Picture stolen from the internet)

And the Glamorian guard wasn't bad either.
Great card art, can see why they are collected.

Mini99 said:

This is great though?
(Picture stolen from the internet)

And the Glamorian guard wasn't bad either.
Great card art, can see why they are collected.

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I had no idea the Emperor's Royal Guard could walk like an Egyptian! ;-)