Bloody hell - 3 packs

[poncho]

insightful as always chris your knowledge of 3 packs is second to none on here! i wonder if the family of the late mr collector got a good price for all his vintage goodness. lovely items though i wonder what other gems are hiding in that find?

 

[edd_jedi]

Cheers Chris, was hoping you would chime in!

 

[Joe]

Great post Chris, it is quite clear you have a passion for three packs and I think we all look forward to reading your posts on them!

I have been talking to a few collectors about three packs in the last few days (mostly because of this auction) and it seems that the prices they go for is quite a turn off for most collectors which in turn stops people really reading up on them or researching the rarity/history, I would say for the most part cost is why I have never really been into them either so I do quite like reading the posts you make Chris as it gives great insight into a part of the hobby I am too poor to take part in! :lol:

 

[edd_jedi]

It's funny though, like a lot of things in this hobby hype seems to drive prices of these more than rarity. You say there are 5 or 6 known examples of each of those, which are the rarest ones, and they sell for the equivalent of nearly $10,000 each. I bet there are Palitoy/foreign MOCs with only one or two known examples that sell for a fraction of that price. I used to have a Kenner MOC Luke Bespin that was the only known example (submitted it to the Kellerman matrix) and that only cost me £150.

I didn't realise there was 16 of them though which is cool, I thought there were only about 5 is there a page with info/photos on all 16 anywhere?

 

[2stripes]

It's funny though, like a lot of things in this hobby hype seems to drive prices of these more than rarity. You say there are 5 or 6 known examples of each of those, which are the rarest ones, and they sell for the equivalent of nearly $10,000 each. I bet there are Palitoy/foreign MOCs with only one or two known examples that sell for a fraction of that price. I used to have a Kenner MOC Luke Bespin that was the only known example (submitted it to the Kellerman matrix) and that only cost me £150.

I didn't realise there was 16 of them though which is cool, I thought there were only about 5 is there a page with info/photos on all 16 anywhere?

I don't think its just down to rarity though Edd its desirablity too so supply and demand. I think its unanimous how cool the 3 packs look and a very striking and obvious alternative to standard cardbacks. I think with a one off auction like this though you have to list them at the right time. The seller was lucky to come across 2 buyers who had a vast amount of cash and the willingness to spend it at the same time. If they only had the one buyer in that league that buyer would have landed them for significantly less.

I guess the fact that there are 16 to collect and 6 of each of the rarest in a way makes them more desirable too as it becomes achievable. If you are after up a particular type of foreign cardback but know that a lot of the figures have no known examples on that cardback then the chance of a full set is probably nil. At least with the 3 packs its achievable and the process of collecting AND completing a particular run is (I would imagine) a big draw for high end collectors. Gotta get them all!!

 

[Joe]

All three pack threads need the ultimate three pack picture!

 

[itfciain]

Now there's a sight !

Definately one to consider when I invent my time machine :lol:

 

[Grant_C]

Bejeepers!

Come on then- whats the price tag for a full set?

 

[2stripes]

Are they just balanced on top of each other!?? More money than sense! :lol:

 

[edd_jedi]

Wow great photo Joe! Never seen half of them before. So using my basic maths, 16 x 3 = 48, so all SW and ESB figures are available in 3 packs? You learn something new every day I wonder why they didn't do any ROTJ ones.

 

[tundra9]

Bejeepers!

Come on then- whats the price tag for a full set?

"Apparently there's a mint full set that Tom Derby brokered, that went to a South African collector to the tune of something like 30-40K USD....althought that is purely speculative but it's probably a reasonable ballpark figure...."
from: http://www.sgcollect.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t17640.html
I remember $100K +
edit $118K : http://forum.rebelscum.com/t809720-3/

 

[Caswellbot]

Wow great photo Joe! Never seen half of them before. So using my basic maths, 16 x 3 = 48, so all SW and ESB figures are available in 3 packs? You learn something new every day I wonder why they didn't do any ROTJ ones.

It is a great reference photo for sure Edd. I believe this photo was taken by Todd de Martino. Unfortunately not all SW and ESB figures were available in the 3 packs. There were some key figures ommited, for example farmboy Luke and the Jawa for example. Perhaps because Luke didnt need the extra push in terms of sales as it was probably already a big seller.

In contrast, certain figures were repeated such as the Ugnaught in the ESB sets. This could have been because it was felt that they did need that extra push. These sets were only open to certain department stores that would be willing to splash the cash on investing in them.

As you can imagine these sets at the time would have cost a lot more than your average carded figure to design and assemble and the price tag at the shop reflected that. Normally around $8-10 which was quite alot back then. The price tag may have in fact put a number of customers off buying them as they saw them as being too expensive. I am surprised there are as many box examples as there are these days considering the limited run they saw.

The question about the ROTJ sets is a good one. Two ROTJ sets were planned for release and got to a stage where the figure compilations were agreed upon. Photos of these planned sets appear in the 1983 Department Store programme. I will post a link to the catalogue page when I get home. I would expect that the cost of manufacturing the sets combined with a relatively low uptake for some of the ESB sets in terms of sales was the reason the ROTJ sets never quite made it to production.

All the best, Chris.

 

[Caswellbot]

Here we go guys. 1983 Department store catalogue featuring proposed ROTJ 3 Packs involving slightly ecclectic grouping even by 3 pack standards. :wink:


1983 Department store Catalogue Cortesy of SWCA by Caswell2009, on Flickr

Image courtesy of the SWCA.

Chris.

 

[Grant_C]

Wow- thats really cool.

Come on then Chris- I expect a 3-pack book along with franks baggie book by next christmas