Blue Snag with no coo or date - ideas guys?

[Frunkstar]

Had this turn up from a friend today, I said I would do what I can to get some info on it so I hope you guys will be of some help, it looks to be correct in hand with the usual discolouration & paint wear, but it has no coo or date markings what so ever, it was bought in a lot stateside for onward sale, but on inspection it was not like the others bought.

Sadly no history on it & it was as said bought as a standard blue snag.

I know nothing about first shots & such pre production items, so I was hoping you could maybe shed a little light on this figure for me guys, I am going to take it in for Steve at UKG to have a look at when I take my next baggies for grading & see what he thinks as well.

 

[walkie]

I'd say it's a first shot, however the cantina aliens are suppost to be the "more" common first shots about. Still a good find if your friend was only after a normal one, I'd swap it for mine

 

[jedisearcher]

I'd say it's a first shot, however the cantina aliens are suppost to be the "more" common first shots about. Still a good find if your friend was only after a normal one, I'd swap it for mine

Do first shots have foot holes? I thought they didn't, but not sure if that's always 100% true.

Edit: first shots are found both with and without footholes.

 

[jedisearcher]

I should be a researcher, I love this type of stuff :lol:

Blue snag is the most common FS around, loads were sold by The Earth afew years ago for $500 a pop. One was for sale on ebay for ages recently by the guy who worked for Kenner, but it was priced at about $2k iirc, and it never sold.

The foot paint is crumbly, and the hand paint is a different shade to the production version. You could check the FS against others to see.

Let us know.

 

[olisuds]

I'd say it's a first shot, however the cantina aliens are suppost to be the "more" common first shots about. Still a good find if your friend was only after a normal one, I'd swap it for mine

Even though there have been quite a few Cantina Alien first shots turn up lately I wouldn't say Greedo, Hammerhead and Walrusman were common first shots. Your still looking at less than 10 of each and the Hammerhead still probably only about 5 or 6 examples known. The Blue Snaggletooth's are fairly abundant though and I would agree that it is certainly one of if not the most common first shot. Funnily enough the red snaggletooth is one of the rarer first shots with only 2 known examples including one that has a blue snaggletooth head (the red and blue snaggletooths have different coloured heads).

Despite it being a fairly common first shot it is also still quite a desirable one and in nice condition could be quite valuable. I've seen mint ones go for over $2,000 recently since pre production prices started to go bonkers.

Lack of dates and copyright would certainly suggest a first shot. The thing to look out for is that it hasn't had the paint on the boots stripped and the COO and copyright filed down before being repainted which is quite easy to do. So check the silver paint for overspray or paint touch ups. You can use a blacklight and an eye loupe for this. Also compare the paint colour and finish to another Blue snaggletooth.

The blue snaggletooth first shots have very flaky paint on the boots, buckle and also head so if there is significant play wear to the plastic then you would expect quite a lot of the paint loss to these parts.

Do first shots have foot holes? I thought they didn't, but not sure if that's always 100% true.

Edit: first shots are found both with and without footholes.

Most first shots do have foot holes, bench shots mostly do not have foot holes. Protomolds and hardcopys never have foot holes.

One was for sale on ebay for ages recently by the guy who worked for Kenner, but it was priced at about $2k iirc, and it never sold.

The foot paint is crumbly, and the hand paint is a different shade to the production version.

Yes he was indeed a former Kenner employee who is well known to collectors of pre production stuff and has sold quite a lot of prototypes including hardcopys in the past. The blue snaggletooth was absolutely mint and was actually priced around $4,000. You are right that it never sold though.

I'm not aware that the hand paint is any different colour to the production version.

P.S. It looks good to me from the pictures (would need to see it in hand to be 100%). So well done there - nice score!

 

[Joe]

One was for sale on ebay for ages recently by the guy who worked for Kenner, but it was priced at about $2k iirc, and it never sold.

The blue snaggletooth was absolutely mint and was actually priced around $4,000. You are right that it never sold though.

Last I saw it was listed at $2,495 but again no takers. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-BLUE-SNAGGLETOOTH-FIRST-SHOT-PROTOTYPE-original-Kenner-SW-designer-/281293898934?pt=US_Action_Figures&hash=item417e6c44b6&nma=true&si=QYOZd4XVPOnaiu0%252B4qXwnHWyVog%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557


Nice score for your friend Frank if it turns out to be legit, looks to be in great shape too considering the majority of BS FS's have pretty bad silver paint.

 

[olisuds]

One was for sale on ebay for ages recently by the guy who worked for Kenner, but it was priced at about $2k iirc, and it never sold.

The blue snaggletooth was absolutely mint and was actually priced around $4,000. You are right that it never sold though.

Last I saw it was listed at $2,495 but again no takers. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-BLUE-SNAGGLETOOTH-FIRST-SHOT-PROTOTYPE-original-Kenner-SW-designer-/281293898934?pt=US_Action_Figures&hash=item417e6c44b6&nma=true&si=QYOZd4XVPOnaiu0%252B4qXwnHWyVog%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557


Nice score for your friend Frank if it turns out to be legit, looks to be in great shape too considering the majority of BS FS's have pretty bad silver paint.

The last price was indeed $2.5k although it was initially listed at $4k quite a while ago. Tom even asked me what I would value it at and I said that considering the condition it should be around $1.5k. He said he had a better offer on it so I was very surprised to see it on eBay a few weeks later at $4k.

 

[Pomse2001]

Wow great thread guys, I did not know this about Blue Snag :shock:

 

[JuniorChubb]

Wow great thread guys, I did not know this about Blue Snag :shock:

Snap

 

[jasdev999]

Same here...would not have guessed either. Great thread and a great find.

 

[Dark Sith Lord]

WOW Awesome thread guys. Very informative and what a great piece to find in the wild. 8)

 

[jedisearcher]

The blue snaggletooth was absolutely mint and was actually priced around $4,000. You are right that it never sold though.

Last I saw it was listed at $2,495 but again no takers. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-BLUE-SNAGGLETOOTH-FIRST-SHOT-PROTOTYPE-original-Kenner-SW-designer-/281293898934?pt=US_Action_Figures&hash=item417e6c44b6&nma=true&si=QYOZd4XVPOnaiu0%252B4qXwnHWyVog%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557


Nice score for your friend Frank if it turns out to be legit, looks to be in great shape too considering the majority of BS FS's have pretty bad silver paint.

The last price was indeed $2.5k although it was initially listed at $4k quite a while ago. Tom even asked me what I would value it at and I said that considering the condition it should be around $1.5k. He said he had a better offer on it so I was very surprised to see it on eBay a few weeks later at $4k.

It's back up for sale at $2.5k. It's in great condition if anyone fancies it :lol:

Oli, roughly how many of these would be out there?

 

[olisuds]

Too be honest I'm not sure. Other than the Rocket Fett it is by far the most abundant of the SW first shots. There have certainly been quite a few new ones turn up recently although quite a lot of the time it's just the same ones being sold on again and again. They exchange hands quite a bit. I'd guess 30+

 

[Frunkstar]

Hey guys, sorry its taken an age to come back regarding this subject, but its been to UKG & they were not willing to grade it as something did not sit right with them about it either, had a house move to deal with in the mean time so everything got delayed, but I sent it on to a friend in the states who is really up on snags & pre production stuff, as I really wanted to get the the bottom of this, turns out the bottom of this is how it turned out as our friend seems to have been serving hard time & has his ass drilled out

oddly enough I never spotted this, nor die the guy who sent it on to me or the graders, not exactly the sort of thing you look for is it, but here are Gary's thoughts/observations regarding it along with some new photos of it alongside a standard & PP snag for comparison.

Goodness only knows why someone would go to all the effort of doing such a convincing custom job & then let it be sold alongside some standard blue snags though, I think that part & who made it will forever be a mystery.

Thoughts from Gary -

1. The seam detailing on the boot that would contain the copyright stamp is not correct. It's too deep and there is an extra seam that was added that the production and pre-production pieces don't have on the CR boot. I believe that the "maker" copied the detailing from the opposite boot (which should have that particular detail) onto the CR boot after altering it.

2. The paint on the 'altered' boot is slightly off. Damn close, but under the correct lighting it can be detected. This almost had me fooled as it's that close. And the 'maker' attempted to create age wear, however under magnification evidence of either sandpaper or a very very fine file can be seen.

3. The hand paint is consistent with a production piece (gray) vs. all know existing first shots (white/cream).

4. This piece has a round section of plastic melted out of the bottom of the torso (looks like he has an asshole). I believe this plastic was melted and used to clean up the area of the boot after the copyright was shaved or sanded away. Then the boot seam detailing was carved/melted into the altered area (however incorrectly). I'll send a picture in a separate e-mail of this snags ass in case you didn't see it (like anyone wants to see a Snaggletooth's asshole - that must be horrible in real life...just sayin')

He also said it was a very convincing job & could very easily have passed as legit, here are his exact words- "The alteration to the boot is pretty impressive and could easily have been mistaken for the real thing"

The evidence -

 

[Pomse2001]

thanks for the story Frank :shock: But it is sad that it is fake and somebody try to make them to trick collectors :evil:

And thanks for the snaggletooth asshole, I have never seen one before :lol:

 

[palitoyjunky]

V interesting read :wink:

 

[Jez]

Very interesting, anyone else thought about rushing to check theirs?

Shame it ended as it did, but thinking about it from a glass half full point of view, good on UKG for saying it didn't seem right so we can't grade it.

Thanks for sharing Frank

 

[Frunkstar]

Hi guys, I have listed this up for sale with full disclosure of what it is on ebay, I know this will not make everyone happy, but I feel it would really be a sin to destroy the figure as I am sure someone out there will love it for just what it is & should it come back up for sale as the genuine article, this information is readily available along with detailed photos of it for cross checking.