Check your attics, there could be gold in there. With the impending death of physical formats and a love for VHS, BetaMax and other decades-old systems, this incredible auction which anticipates a final tally of $60,000 for a VHS copy of Star Wars from 1984 could see a lift in a market dripping with nostalgia.
Now, before you rush to put your long forgotten Star Wars VHS on eBay and plan a dream vacation on all the money you’re about to make, this isn’t just any copy of Star Wars IV: A New Hope. The tape available for sale is the first release of the movie from 1984, and is still sealed, as well as having been graded. According to the auction site, Goldin, there are several things worth noting to highlight the rarity of this particular VHS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExopA5iNiFw
The presented copy is a first edition and includes a “Gray Tape-Head,” a “First Edition Stereo Only” red label, a “1984 Sleeve,” and “First Edition CBS/Fox Watermarks.” VHSDNA Condition Report: Edges: 6.5, Corners: 8.5, Gloss, 8.5, Flaps: 8.0. A sealed first edition copy of “Star Wars IV: A New Hope” comes with a seal rating of B and an overall grade of NM 8.
In addition to this particular VHS, the site has a few other Star Wars VHS tapes for sale including two more copies of the 1984 release of Star Wars IV: A New Hope (though missing some of the mentioned features that make the first tape so valuable) as well as a set of the 10 year anniversary set of the entire original trilogy on VHS. While these tape’s likely won’t go for as much, they are still expected to sell for somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000.
Will this be the highest price ever for a VHS of a Star Wars movie? It’s hard to say. We don’t know if this is just a temporary spike in interest in VHS collecting driven by nostalgia for the format, or if this is just the beginning of a fad that will see these prices soar over the next several years.
It’s worth noting, this isn’t the first ever release of Star Wars on VHS, that happened two years earlier in 1982 when it hit VHS, Beta, V2000, VideoDisc and television.
- Hardcover Book
- Chen, Mike (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 352 Pages - 05/10/2022 (Publication Date) - Random House Worlds (Publisher)
