Starting a loose collection

[ooohteeny!]

Okay guys,

I'm new to collecting vintage Star Wars.

1. Whats the best way to go about it and what are the potential pit falls?

2. What should I be looking for?

3. I'd like to send them to UKG for grading and casing to keep them nice and minty.
Is it worth doing and what is worth sending in condition wise? (if that makes sense)

All help greatly appreciated

 

[PGowdy]

Hey, how many do you have? and what condition are they in.
I've never sent anything to AFA myself but a lot of guys on here do and i'm sure can help you out.
From what i understand tho, sending loose figures is probably only worth it if they are in very mint condition. Also rare variants and expensive figures would be more worth the cost than your average 10 quid figure.

 

[ooohteeny!]

Hey, how many do you have? and what condition are they in.
I've never sent anything to AFA myself but a lot of guys on here do and i'm sure can help you out.
From what i understand tho, sending loose figures is probably only worth it if they are in very mint condition. Also rare variants and expensive figures would be more worth the cost than your average 10 quid figure.

Cheers for the reply, I've about 80odd upto now, in all kinds of conditions.
I've a good few that look spot on to me, some of which I've bought from everyones favourite auction site as being C8.5 etc...

But what makes a Mint figure???

What I would consider as Mint might be crap to someone more ITK

 

[aussiejames]

Show us some pictures. Pitfalls: fake weapons ( check here : http://www.imperialgunnery.com/ ) IMO nothing worth under $100 is worth grading.

 

[PGowdy]

Gotta agree with James there. Even minty mint figures are 10 a penny (not literally) so it's more worth it with the rarer ones if at all.
Mint just means as good as new. But you're right, those in the know would possibly spot things you wont.
Like James said, get some pics up and show everyone what you've got.
Have you seen the showcase section yet?>

 

[ooohteeny!]

I can see what your saying about minty mint but surely there are bargains to be found?

I'd like to have them graded and cased as I think it's a nice touch and great for keeping them in good condition whilst on display.

I'll get some pictures up shortly

 

[Imperial nut]

Martyn , i am only collecting a wet week too.
I also got into it by digging out my childhood stuff.
The guys are right about grading, most people only do it to add value to a figure or to authenticate that its what it is.
Just get a nice case made (i think ED -e30318is- on her does em) or buy some acyrillic cases if you want to display.

I found that the best place to buy stuff was on here from the guys who most folk know,and things will be described as they are,,,, but beware of first time posters offering loads of stuff straight off the bat.
The guys will weed em out fairly quick and its hilarious to watch,

http://www.starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6940 classic example :lol: :lol: :lol:

Bollux , like a pitbull on a granny.

Also root around car boot sales and be careful on Geebay, too many stung stories lately.

enjoy

 

[ooohteeny!]

http://www.starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6940 classic example :lol: :lol: :lol:

Kinell lads, he might have been genuine

 

[ooohteeny!]

Okay, heres a few, buy no means rare and sorry for the poor quality, hard to take this late at night with no daylight.

 

[PGowdy]

Some nice bits there and they do look in very good condition. If you want to grade them all by all means go ahead but it'll cost. More than the price of the figure in most cases. You can use AFA (State side) or UKG (UK). Or like Steve says, you can always by the acrylic cases from the aforementioned and case them yourself for preservation purposes.

Oh and re; Dark Vader seller. Don't worry, he was not 'for real'. :wink:

 

[ooohteeny!]

I think I'll use UKG, I like it that you get the sticker inside with all the info etc, like your man said, to have it authenticated.

So do you get alot of scammers like that coming on here? Hat's off like, throwing themselves into a lions den of folks ITK :lol: Takes brass balls that!

 

[PGowdy]

Every once in a while. Thing is, i'm quite new to the hobby but a lot of the guys on here have seen and heard it many many times before and can spot them before they've even signed in. :lol:

 

[Capetown]

The figures look great Martyn. Good start.

You could try and send a few of your best ones in to UKG and see how you like the result. Then afterwards you can always decide to buy them already graded or keep them ungraded.

Steve from UKG is a member here (username ukgraders). If you PM him he might be able to do something for you price wise.

 

[Stargeezer]

Well if you want to get them cased/graded, i would not send all figs you have there, for example as from what i can see, the Tusken raider has to much paint loss from the silver on his head. I may see some other small flaws, but it could be the pictures...

If you want good graded figures, that look perfect encased, you should try to find figures with no paintloss, discolouration, perfect clothes, and with perfect original weapons and other accesoires, otherwise i think grading is not worth it for the regular figures.

Just my opinion.

Dennis.

 

[ooohteeny!]

The figures look great Martyn. Good start.

Steve from UKG is a member here (username ukgraders). If you PM him he might be able to do something for you price wise.

Thanks mate, I'll drop him a PM and see what he says

...the Tusken raider has to much paint loss from the silver on his head. I may see some other small flaws, but it could be the pictures...

Yeah on closer inspection I see what you mean, that's only thing I can see mind.
I'm only looking for NM so surely a few imperfections are acceptable???

Thanks for the feedback so far guys, I'm learning alot already.

 

[ooohteeny!]

BTW where are Admin on here? I'm trying to sort out my Avatar

 

[phreatobite]

I built my "complete" (96 figs) loose collection from EeeBay over the last year or so using my childhood collection as a starting point (they were still in excellent nick). To be honest you're better off buying from forums like this - flat/fair prices and good people.

You can get most for under a tenner. Just start saving for those last 17.

Be careful, once you complte the loose collection the temptation will be to start getting carded figs... it's pathalogical :wink: .

 

[aussiejames]

Yeah on closer inspection I see what you mean, that's only thing I can see mind.
I'm only looking for NM so surely a few imperfections are acceptable???

if you can see any imperfection with the naked eye it isn't graded near mint. You could buy a real cheap 85 for 15pounds. Then compare. You don't need admin to fix your avatar. Mod Weasel would be good for f all :lol: But I'm sure if you ask someone other than me (I'm **** with technology) they'd sort your pic out.

 

[weasel]

You don't need admin to fix your avatar. Mod Weasel would be good for f all :lol: But I'm sure if you ask someone other than me (I'm **** with technology) they'd sort your pic out.

Yeah, I'm probably as close to daily Admin as we have on here, but as you cans ee from my lovely Avatar, I'm hardly the person to speak to.

Gotta agree with James's initial post as well, if it's worth less than approx £50 the benefit in grading (with regard to re-sale) is far out weighed by the cost.

 

[PGowdy]

Ask TigerHam about the avatar. He very techie. I had no trouble with mine, but couldn't figure out how to add one to the RebelScum site so have a really distorted tiny one on there.
just have to load a SMALL pic. It wont accept a regular sized one. You can "shrink" a pic using a simple photo program on your computer or upload one to photopucket.com and shrink it there.