Star Wars was nearly not produced with the Palitoy logo in the UK!!!

[Andyclarke]

Just had a fascinating conversation with John from Vectis. He has been chatting to the Palitoy ex employees and both of them have confirmed that Star Wars in the UK was going to be produced with the Chad Valley logo and was only switched to Palitoy right before the launch. It was a massive decision at the time for the company. They both confirmed preproduction Star Wars cards were made with the "Chad Valley" writing (logo) on. John has asked if they can find any of these cards.
How amazing would it be to see one of those. I suppose they could be worth hundreds if not thousands each. John did think there will be more literature/catalogues to come.

He wouldn't tell me anything about the May Palitoy sale but said there was a lot of nice Star Wars in this months TV related sale.

 

[mr_palitoy]

A Chad valley preprod card would be Epic. Even the news of that is amazing!

I'd be Mr Chad Valley.



Jason

 

[David Tree]

Yep, there exists somewhere a thread, either on RS, Imperial Outpost or maybe even here from around 2008/2009 ish where I broke that it was Denys Fisher that was the intended distributor within the Palitoy Company originally. I posted up quotes from an interview with the former head of Denys Fisher. The company was geared up for the distribution after the success of Six Million Dollar Man and needed something to replace it quick. They were massively put out when it was 12" and model kits. Lee Bullock might remember where I posted it?

 

[David Tree]

A Chad valley preprod card would be Epic. Even the news of that is amazing!

I'd be Mr Chad Valley.



Jason

yes...... yes you would.

 

[Andyclarke]

Mr Chad Valley or Mr Denys Fisher would have been quite amusing, very American sounding.

These guys are in their 80's now so I guess their memories could be cloudy, interesting that they both thought the same. Then again Denys Fisher was a sister company. Either way if they found any preproduction cards that would be amazing.

 

[chipsteak]

I always think that Chad Valley sounds like a Viz-style euphemism for something but I'm not quite sure what.

 

[tiefighterboy]

Looked up their logo. I gotta say their vintage logo would have been far less dazzling than Palitoys.

 

[Mr-shifter]

A Chad valley preprod card would be Epic. Even the news of that is amazing!

I'd be Mr Chad Valley.



Jason

yes...... yes you would.

And you would be the curator of the Chad valley archive.........

No wait, did palitoy make something other than Star Wars?

 

[David Tree]

These guys are in their 80's now so I guess their memories could be cloudy, interesting that they both thought the same.

That and General Mills did not acquire Chad Valley until around August/ September of 1978, almost 6 months after the toys had been released.

Then again Denys Fisher was a sister company. Either way if they found any preproduction cards that would be amazing.

yep

 

[David Tree]

.

No wait, did palitoy make something other than Star Wars?

don't be ridiculous

 

[edd_jedi]

According to Wikipedia Palitoy bought Chad Valley in 1978, so it would have been close!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chad_Valley_(toy_brand)

 

[BlueDog]

Not that'd we'd have known any better but then again this thread would've been called : Star Wars was nearly not produced with the Chad Valley logo in the UK!!!" Here's a glimpse at an alternate universe 8)

....and yes I know there shouldn't be a white price box.

 

[Andyclarke]

Not that'd we'd have known any better but then again this thread would've been called : Star Wars was nearly not produced with the Chad Valley logo in the UK!!!" Here's a glimpse at an alternate universe 8)

....and yes I know there shouldn't be a white price box.

Haha, excellent stuff. That Chad Valley logo is actually really nice.

 

[BlueDog]

To be honest I'd not heard of Chad Valley before reading this thread, sounds like a brand name you'd associate with some sort of food product.

Chad Valley golden peaches or Chad Valley frozen peas. :lol:

 

[steve obi wan]

Great story , great insight .

I agree Chad Valley logo looks good

 

[edd_jedi]

I had a Chad Valley football in the 80s, that's all I know them from.

 

[Clawrence]

It may of looked something like this...

 

[tiefighterboy]

Are you sure that Chad Valley logo is vintage? When I googled it..all I got was a bland black and white logo with no design.

 

[David Tree]

I'm beginning to smack my head on the desk

 

[Andyclarke]

Haha David.

I guess this image shows the type of logo that would have been used. Definitely not as nice as Palitoy.