I really enjoyed the SWFUK Podcast, especially the section on Helix. I made collecting Helix one of my priorities from early on and I wish now that I had forked out on some of the (then) higher prices because now Helix has gone through the roof. I don't have it all but I have a nice selection.
In addition to the information on the podcast; Helix Stationery arrived in U.K shops in late February or early March 1978. Helix like all of the Star Wars ephemera producers deliberately waited until January and February until releasing their produce, except for Letraset who made a fortune in the months leading up to the film with its first three transfer sets. Heinz launched a "Spectacular Star Wars school set by Helix" offer on its cans of baked beans with 8 grilled pork sausages in February.
There seemed to be a correlation with Letraset, with Helix producing only items to draw with and Letraset producing items to write and draw on.
The Death Star pencil sharpener was probably multi-coloured because it was simply a globe pencil sharpener given a re-paint. As the machinery was set up for full colour, it would have been a waste (and be not as fun) to simply make it grey.
Helix first advertised its products in Star Wars Weekly later in the year (I don't have the issue to hand), ready for the new school term and replicated the campaign in 1979. We're not talking about items that were only for sale in the 70's. I remember Helix Star Wars being on sale in the eighties and maybe early nineties, which was overstock either at Helix or individual stores. It is probably down to collectors picking up this stock, that examples exist in mint condition today.
The pencil top display box is common because Jason Joiner found a stack of them while he was on holiday in (I believe) the Channel Islands in the mid 90's. That man has the luck of the devil and it also shows that Helix Star Wars was available outside of the U.K. I bought mine from Jason and I expect every single one that has come up for sale is from his find.
As the podcast pointed out, there was not any stationery of any kind produced in the U.K for The Empire Strikes Back. I assisted James Simmons with an article on Star Wars stationery for the U.K. Star Wars Fan Club fanzine in the 1990's, where we combined our knowledge.
I'm pretty confident I have collected the entire run of H.C Ford Star Wars/Return of the Jedi Stationery including all of the shop display boxes, although I need a stack of pencils to fill the individual tins - yeah I'll need some luck there. My "holy grail" is an unused big boxed Return of the Jedi stationery set, which was far too expensive for me to buy in 1983 (I have an empty box). Originally there was a single sheet of red cardboard inside, to which various items were vac-formed (does anyone out there have such a beast?).
Craig.
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