Condition now more important than character or cardback?

I was watching a Facebook sale of a load of MOCs earlier today, and I was surprised to see that the main driver of both price and desirability seemed to be condition above all else. Mint condition ROTJ cards of unpopular characters were selling higher, and faster, than earlier ESB cards and more desirable characters.

Grading has been around for a long time now so it's not news to say that condition is important and effects value, but I was quite shocked to see some ESB cards being snubbed because of edge wear, dented bubbles or litho tears. In my head an ESB character on an average condition card is more valuable and desirable than a Jabba goon on a nice Jedi card, but apparently the tides have turned.

I really don't like litho tears but creasing, edgewear, bubble dogs etc don't bother me. I'm really not a mint collector and certainly wouldn't pay a huge premium for it. Why waste money on a mint Klaatu when you could get a worn Lando/Bossk/Dengar etc for not much more?

This is interesting to see someone else has noticed edd a few years back when I completed my loose run I decided to move onto every figure on a jedi card regardless of card back just to have an example and jedi was my age group. Also I wanted an achievable easy run minus the obvious leia organa fett Luke bespin ECT but now I can't get figures like an ERG for under £200 or a biker scout to name a few but I have seen a few empire cards go for a lot less than I would have expected. I might have to switch focus. Even a weeque and klaatu in nice condition is over £100 and in some cases a lot more.

It's either the way the world is at present that is driving the prices or it's just the way it's gone I think a lot of us have been waiting for the bubble to burst for a while but it looks like it's here to stay.

I like my cards to be slightly bashed - It feels more authentic, bizzarely. Like an antique.

I do know that grading has become be all and end all of other collecting worlds - So I am not surprised about it in SW. it does give that false guarantee of quality and authenticness...

.... though those of us with graded TT's may disagree!

UKS

That's good news for collectors that don't mind scuffed cards sticker residue, litho flaws dinged bubbles etc, 8)

That's very interesting to learn. I completely understand that condition is important, but I would have thought that rarity would be the biggest driver of price... shows what I know! :lol:

heres hoping this means i will get a cheap greedo sw back :lol:

I thought condition was always popular hence the success of the TT sales. Most collectors have no clue of rarity and the community clam up when you ask questions about it so it makes sense to focus on condition!

Wreck-It Ralph said:

I thought condition was always popular hence the success of the TT sales. Most collectors have no clue of rarity and the community clam up when you ask questions about it so it makes sense to focus on condition!

Click to expand...

Condition has always been a factor when buying items which are relatively common, but cardback certainly used to be more of a deciding factor. For the most part the older the cardback the more expensive the figure. I think the 'most collectors have not clue of rarity' is true for the majority who've come in to collecting since the facebook boom - education seems to be the bottom of their list. It's a shame really as - and this is where I disagree with your last comment - there are plenty people out there who are more than willing to share their knowledge.

I do not need mint moc, so that is good news for me edd But I do not understand it, to me the star wars hobbies has changed to something that I do not understand sometimes.