Woolworths Special Buy 8 Star Wars Figures for 99p Pack Research Findings

[Mr-shifter]

Oooh. This is exciting. I feel like Laurence.

The interesting thing is, up till 5 minutes ago I didn't realise people sold old receipts on eBay.

Now have a good look at these. Interesting thing is they are all pre 2003.

 

[Mr-shifter]

Now I did find one post 2003, and it was interesting. I would like to find more to prove my theory, but this is a start.

Now. Have a close look at the back of this vs the others I posted. Can you see it?

Now look again at the picture Jeff supplied jamie.

Now I'm not saying that's conclusive, but it makes me think even more that there is something very wrong here with that receipt. I do hope this multipack does still exist and that the owner might be able to shed a little more light on this obvious anomaly.

 

[spoons]

Ha ha Ben :lol:

How about a brand new roll

Edit - but too early for Jeff's baggies

Sorry Jamie, anything coming from Jeff has to be suspect. And Edd is right - why would the receipt be in a Palitoy produced bag?

 

[Frunkstar]

I know frank and Jeff were at one time friendly and as documented by frank exchanged a lot of info with each other regarding baggies etc via email......that is one hell of a find and if he has had them since 2001 surly he would of mentioned that to frank in the past?

He did. Discussed many times. Just requested documentation regarding the communication.

This is totally incorrect FYI Jamie, I can tell you I have every single email between myself & Jeff still saved in my email history & in (edited for typo it to in) those communications I asked on multiple occasions that if Jeff ever had any woolworths 8 packs come his way to let me know as I was actively looking for them & was willing to pay over the going rate for them, Jeff knew full well I was willing to pay a minimum sum of 500 GBP++ for genuine 8 packs, yet he never once offered a single one to me, yet he sold dozens of them to other collectors in the 250 to 350 GBP price range over the time we were in communication via email, I am sure with some time to re sift through the emails I can provide screen shots to confirm this.

So if he had been sitting on these in bulk since 1999 & was selling them for considerably less than someone else was willing to pay for them, if begs the question - WHY???

Just to add the the last sentence - this was at a time where myself & Jeff would converse regularly via email & were on good terms.

 

[fuzzybuzzytoys]

Ok Ben, while you search eBay for Woolworth receipts and follow the line that Jeff purchased, or produced one, and sealed it in a single multipack, I will reach out to Kevin and see if we can have a clearer look at the graded item.

Lawrence, why was Kevin's graded multipacks omitted from your investigation?

 

[fuzzybuzzytoys]

I know frank and Jeff were at one time friendly and as documented by frank exchanged a lot of info with each other regarding baggies etc via email......that is one hell of a find and if he has had them since 2001 surly he would of mentioned that to frank in the past?

He did. Discussed many times. Just requested documentation regarding the communication.

This is totally incorrect FYI Jamie, I can tell you I have every single email between myself & Jeff still saved in my email history & in (edited for typo it to in) those communications I asked on multiple occasions that if Jeff ever had any woolworths 8 packs come his way to let me know as I was actively looking for them & was willing to pay over the going rate for them, Jeff knew full well I was willing to pay a minimum sum of 500 GBP++ for genuine 8 packs, yet he never once offered a single one to me, yet he sold dozens of them to other collectors in the 250 to 350 GBP price range over the time we were in communication via email, I am sure with some time to re sift through the emails I can provide screen shots to confirm this.

So if he had been sitting on these in bulk since 1999 & was selling them for considerably less than someone else was willing to pay for them, if begs the question - WHY???

Just to add the the last sentence - this was at a time where myself & Jeff would converse regularly via email & were on good terms.

I have asked Jeff for communication between yourselves regarding these multipacks. This is when he mentioned the one with the power droid (and receipt) as this was one you were apparently very interested in. Have no further information at this stage.

 

[fuzzybuzzytoys]

Just to be clear the photo is from 2001 as stated

 

[momike]

So basically Frank while you were in regular contact with Jeff and on good terms he pretty much failed to tell you about his epic (this is holy grail stuff to a uk baggie collector) loft find of a box full of sealed Woolworths 8 packs that he had been sat on since 2001?

Why would some old lady have all those packs in her loft and put the receipt in one of the bags......maybe it was the receipt for 50x99p

 

[Mr-shifter]

Ok Ben, while you search eBay for Woolworth receipts and follow the line that Jeff purchased, or produced one, and sealed it in a single multipack, I will reach out to Kevin and see if we can have a clearer look at the graded item.

Lawrence, why was Kevin's graded multipacks omitted from your investigation?

I have stopped looking mate. I have finished having a **** now.

 

[mr_palitoy]

Anyone for some pic n mix as this story develops?

Jason

 

[Frunkstar]

So basically Frank while you were in regular contact with Jeff and on good terms he pretty much failed to tell you about his epic (this is holy grail stuff to a uk baggie collector) loft find of a box full of sealed Woolworths 8 packs that he had been sat on since 2001?

Why would some old lady have all those packs in her loft and put the receipt in one of the bags......maybe it was the receipt for 50x99p

In a nutshell

 

[Frunkstar]

He did. Discussed many times. Just requested documentation regarding the communication.

This is totally incorrect FYI Jamie, I can tell you I have every single email between myself & Jeff still saved in my email history & in (edited for typo it to in) those communications I asked on multiple occasions that if Jeff ever had any woolworths 8 packs come his way to let me know as I was actively looking for them & was willing to pay over the going rate for them, Jeff knew full well I was willing to pay a minimum sum of 500 GBP++ for genuine 8 packs, yet he never once offered a single one to me, yet he sold dozens of them to other collectors in the 250 to 350 GBP price range over the time we were in communication via email, I am sure with some time to re sift through the emails I can provide screen shots to confirm this.

So if he had been sitting on these in bulk since 1999 & was selling them for considerably less than someone else was willing to pay for them, if begs the question - WHY???

Just to add the the last sentence - this was at a time where myself & Jeff would converse regularly via email & were on good terms.

I have asked Jeff for communication between yourselves regarding these multipacks. This is when he mentioned the one with the power droid (and receipt) as this was one you were apparently very interested in. Have no further information at this stage.

yes we did discuss that pack as he had it listed on ebay, no mention of this grail loft find though at any point & this was way before any of the woolies packs were looked at more closely & the obvious differences noticed.

 

[Frunkstar]

978E98A7-DF19-4D96-8C64-A457E32D4BD5.jpeg

Anyone for some pic n mix as this story develops?

Jason

you not got any popcorn Jason? :lol:

 

[Mr-shifter]

Ok Ben, while you search eBay for Woolworth receipts and follow the line that Jeff purchased, or produced one, and sealed it in a single multipack, I will reach out to Kevin and see if we can have a clearer look at the graded item.

Lawrence, why was Kevin's graded multipacks omitted from your investigation?

Just to be clear, the point I was trying to make is that only the post 2003 receipt has the words "transaction in accordance with notified terms and conditions" written on it. Not one single receipt that predates 2003 has that wording on it.

And the picture of jeffs baggie has the words "transaction in accordance with notified terms and conditions" written on it, as you can see from your photos.

So what I am suggesting is that the receipt you have pictured is no older than 2003.

Can you explain this?

 

[momike]

If that's true that's a nice bit investigating mr-shifter (sorry don't know your name) :wink:

 

[momike]

Seems to be some good investigation going on here so let's keep it up in the hope it leads somewhere, despite jeffs past shenanigans I think the best thing to do here is to look at this from an unbiased angle

Some better quality pics of the receipt in that pack would be great

 

[lejackal]

Google

That was their offices, not a retail unit mate

http://www.woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/Directory/Woolworth-StoreList-1995.pdf

Last page of the list

 

[momike]

After having a close look at those receipts that mr-shifter posted I would have to say that I agree with what he is saying, you can see that the older ones from the 80s and even 90s are inkeeping with that period, and the one in the bag matches the one shown from 2003 with the terms and condition which the older ones clearly do not have, the receipt in that pack looks modern when compared to the older ones and far to white considering it's 30 years old

 

[laurencedyer]

Ok Ben, while you search eBay for Woolworth receipts and follow the line that Jeff purchased, or produced one, and sealed it in a single multipack, I will reach out to Kevin and see if we can have a clearer look at the graded item.

Lawrence (Laurence) , why was Kevin's graded multipacks omitted from your investigation?

Jamie, the following has been taken from the original comparison post.

A search of every platform thought of globally was undertaken in order to compare every sample located. The sample size has two collections omitted. The omissions were due as the collections could not be analysed effectively from the images available.


Kevin along with another collector that had a large quantity of Woolworths packs were contacted when the research was undertaken. They both did not want to assist with the research. For that reason it was deemed only fair out of respect not to analyse their packs. The packs could not be analysed from Kevin's limelight picture either.

More info just arrived. This is a pack from the box pictured previously (you can se it in the top left corner). The pack was sold to Kevin Bleso about 5 years ago (and graded)

What is really interesting is the receipt which is sealed in the pack. You can clearly see the postcode NW1 6JL which, when googled, is an address which belonged to the Woolworths Group.

Jamie, it is Interesting that you have selected this pack with the receipt enclosed.
This pack you have chosen WAS the only pack that was actually observed for open sale. This was noted on Worthpoint and was sold on eBay on 14.10.2014 by user j10e5f6f6. All other packs seem to have been sold either via direct purchase or at Farthest From directly.

This pack was also the earliest pack documented.

Trying to find evidence of where suspect items originated from although I already suspect I am massively wasting my time whatever the outcome.

Jeff always maintained these were a loft find. Sad to see this picture so quickly dismissed. I guess that's the state of the hobby right now and why I am so turned off by it. I will attempt to dig through Jeff's paperwork to find out more information about these and other items. I just hope that these items have not been destroyed by current opinion.

Jamie, you are not wasting your time in trying to authenticate any item. I personally wish that the comparisons between literally every little detail were not so different. And if these items were to be proven authentic then I would gladly eat a HUGE dose of humble pie and apologies for terming these as "Suspect". That I can not see happening I am afraid.

 

[momike]

Just noted that the receipt in the pack also has the part about statutory rights which the older ones didn't and would imagine that was because of an amendment in the consumer act

 

[fuzzybuzzytoys]

Thank you all for the extra information. Please understand I'm not interested in legitimising these items. I'm trying to work out where they originated from. The receipt is a real head scratcher and I will attempt to reach out to Kevin, even though he seems unwilling to participate to date for reasons unknown. I also have the address that the loft picture was allegedly taken at so will follow that up. Cheers again.

 

[Richard_H]

Good work Jamie this is fascinating stuff and if it leads to the source then it'll be all worthwhile. If this receipt is post 1990s then this is a whole new level of dishonesty.

 

[Nick_IoW]

They just look faker and faker.

Ben's receipts show the difference in styles through different time periods. Putting that particular style at early 2000s at best.

Fake bags - with a guy who just happens to be caught selling fake baggies later on.

Does that not seem like too much of a coincidence?

Its OK to stand up for friends I get that. But come on, wake up. I met Jeff, he's a nice chap but he plays up his naivety, he's really not that naive at all.

 

[lejackal]

This is front and back of one on eBay from January 1999

 

[edd_jedi]

Also Jamie not sure if you missed this part of Laurence's research, but it has been identified that baggies within some suspect 8 packs were Kenner ones with the Kenner branding removed. This was at a time when Palitoy were putting Taiwan figures on Hong Kong cards with early ESB double stem or later trilgo bubbles, which shows by the end of the line they didn't care much about which packaging was used and makes it highly unlikely Palitoy would have gone to the trouble of removing Kenner text from baggies to make them look like Palitoy ones.

 

[fuzzybuzzytoys]

Also Jamie not sure if you missed this part of Laurence's research, but it has been identified that baggies within some suspect 8 packs were Kenner ones with the Kenner branding removed. This was at a time when Palitoy were putting Taiwan figures on Hong Kong cards with early ESB double stem or later trilgo bubbles, which shows by the end of the line they didn't care much about which packaging was used and makes it highly unlikely Palitoy would have gone to the trouble of removing Kenner text from baggies to make them look like Palitoy ones.

Please read my last post

 

[Richard_H]

Jamie is not saying these are legit items. He's finding more evidence and pieces of the puzzle.

 

[Mr-shifter]

Jamie is not saying these are legit items. He's finding more evidence and pieces of the puzzle.

I felt initially he was presenting his evidence and was very stand offish when presented with alternative opinion and evidence found by other people. He also got quite prickly when his new revelations where questioned.

I consider myself to have no horse in this race. I am interested in the truth to this and no more. I also feel some people have agendas here. It is those agendas that is obscuring logic and reason.

 

[user 5830]

Google

That was their offices, not a retail unit mate

http://www.woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/Directory/Woolworth-StoreList-1995.pdf

Last page of the list

That would make more sense, the receipt rear print would generally have the registered trading address of the company, not the building it was sold from.

 

[Richard_H]

Fair point Ben. It'd be good to see the other side of the receipt. Also, the print on the carrier bag may help date this