It's an interesting point somebody made about Palitoy collectors paying top money to complete a mint run via vectis. If there are a couple more auctions based coming up on the sales rep/ Beeches stock it'll be interesting to see how many people would pay the prices being paid at the moment. It only takes two people bidding at one auction to keep prices up, but if there are multi sales over the summer in a short space of time we might get a sight of how many people are out there with this cash and desire. I've got a feeling by a 4th sale the prices sold for would drop quite a lot.
Interestingly I saw some palitoys sold on ebay in the US this week including a 30a Luke - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400921773686?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT . It went for c£1600 quid, slightly less excluding fees than the Vectis sale. There was also a HST 30 and it went for c900 quid. So it doesn't look like the demand is necessarily from America yet, as they can't come up for sale that often there, also there's a stormie palitoy 12 back on Brians Toys but it's been there for ages. Also interestingly these were all recently graded MOCs. I checked out the 30a Luke code to see the pop report and there is only something like 3 graded in the World at the moment and something like 14 graded 12 back Palitoys in total graded according to their pop report. I can't see UKG pop reports but imagine there are double that graded, given they were UK toys. But even so can't be that many graded mocs, that's a good thing though as it means the AFA grading bug doesn't seem to have hit the Palitoy 12-41 market yet as there must be a at least 150 12 backs out there, and the rest? Min. Mostly probably owned by people on this forum. I'm not sure how many 30a Luke's there are in the Wold- I'm guestimating 10 or so min and maybe the same HSTs 30s?
Does anybody know when the next Vectis sales are / how many there are throughout the summer ? I heard they had 4 batches of 12 backs and assume more 20s and others.
Also people have mentioned facebook posts. I'm in the tri group, the imp commissiary and star wars collectors uk and Ireland and didn't see anything about the auction. Are there others that people would recommend?
It's a fair point about grading and how some people seem to be all about grades, and I spose there is some point to having standards, but they seem a bit arbitrary sometimes and standard differential pushes prices differences and price submarkets IMO. Having said that I still think that even the most pricey cards are still gettable if you don't have a massive issue with grades and certain markets like Palitoy haven't succumbed to graditis yet. I think this still is the hobby that people thought it was, it just seems there is an expanding market and more commercialism at the mint and graded end where some are maybe in it more about money and prestige than the love of collecting potentially.
With 6 more films coming over the next few years, it seems certain that the trends seen at the moment will only increase. A bad and a good thing. A bad thing as prices seem set to increase and more emphasis on price at the top end on 80+s, but also a good thing as it will mean a whole new generation of children (and adults) get to share and experience the thrill of seeing SW at the cinema and the joy of the toys and subsequently more collectors into the future for at least the next 30-40 years. The long term continued existence of the hobby seems guaranteed.
