Back in 1977 the Star Wars merchandising machine was beginning to crank up, releasing paper and cardboard products quicker than other more complicated products such as action figure related items. Topps trading cards were one of those first collectibles available in the UK, often seen in newsagents or sweet shops in a counter top box with 48 packs inside. 
For the princely sum of 5p children could purchase a pack of 7 trading cards, which also contained a stick of gum, in the UK we did not get stickers in the wax wrapped sets unlike our US friends.
The UK wrappers can be easily distinguished from their US counterparts with the Palitoy toy manufacturer information, “It’s PALITOY for STAR WARS toys!” and “Coming Soon! Exciting Star Wars games, paints, action figures and other long playing toys from PALITOY!”
Made in Ireland and distributed to the UK, wave one of these sets were labelled with numbers 1 – 66 and the UK cards are not as easy to acquire as the US sets. The easiest way to tell the difference between the UK and US releases is that the US cards used a brown cardstock whereas the UK ones are brighter.
Due to the relative rarity, it’s difficult to ascertain how much a full set of UK wave one trading cards would cost loose but until recently, the US ones cost £25 – £45 depending on condition. All of that changed fairly recently with loose sets now costing £150+ due to the desire to collect the “rookie card” which had previously been a sports collecting card term.
A rookie card is one which features the first appearance of a character so card #1 Luke Skywalker is his rookie card. A quick glance on eBay sees this formerly £2 card selling for anything from £12 to over a thousand pounds! As fantastic as that may sound, recently a graded Luke rookie card sold for around $250,000 due to its desirability and excellent condition. This may explain the extraordinary high price that the near full set pictured above sold at Vectis Auctions last month for around £22,000, including fees.
If we look at this auction lot in a little more detail we can see that is a desirable UK box, in fair condition, with 47 out of the 48 packs fully sealed. It was listed with an estimate of £800-£1000 but would have been expected to at least double that.
Recent eBay results show that ungraded sealed packs will sell for £60-£80 each. 47 x £80 gives £3,760 so is the box that rare and desirable to match the sold price?
The short and easy answer is no. Where the value in this box lies is in the sealed packs, the possible inclusion of rookie cards, and what the condition of the packs and cards inside are.
Sealed packs graded PSA 8 can be found online for close to £1000, many boldly claiming that they “may contain Luke #1.” So, £22,000 therefore clearly seems a bargain! Well, yes and no. 47 sealed and graded packs will only be worth this if there are 47 collectors willing to pay £1000 if they are graded and what grades they will achieve.
Only time will tell what the intentions of the buyer are and whether it was a great deal or not.
Photos (c) Vectis Auctions, Beckets
