There’s never a bad time to get into Star Wars collecting.
Though, fair warning, if you do it around now - May the 4th, Star Wars Day - then you should be aware that attention usually raises prices.
So bear that in mind if you’re shopping around.
There are lots of ways to collect Star Wars.
The most valuable Star Wars Kenner figure, complete with a ton of documentation.
Which now has 25 properties on screen alone.
If you have lot a of money you could shoot for the top and start buying props from the film: $3.15 million for an X-wing fighter.
Or you could collect at second remove by picking up some of the merchandise that Star Wars pioneered.
And the most obvious way to do that is to shop for Kenner action fixtures.
Here, we explore the original and most collectible series of Star Wars toys in 11 numbers.
$1.342 million
Let’s start at the top with the highest price yet paid for a Kenner figure.
That was the value of a Bobba Fett “rocket firing” figure that survives only in prototype form after it was withdrawn because of a potential choking hazard in its design.
100
It’s believed that about 100 of those figures were made and fewer survive.
Some were picked out of bins by Kenner staff. Others were simply taken home.
It’s why the toy is so valuable now.
It’s value is dependent on provenance and condition, but any example of this toy will be worth hundreds of thousands of dollar.
96
The Kenner range was of 96 models, though as some were replacements for withdrawn or redesigned models Kenner counts 93.
This classic range comes from the first three movies.
A Kenner Obi Wan figure, with the delicate mechanisms that make it so rare.
38180
The Kenner series are all numbered.
The numbers are printed on the card backing in the package - keeping packaging is always a good idea if you collect.
38180 is the first one. Of course, it’s Luke Skywalker.
93840
And this is the packaging number of the final figure, who was Yak Face.
Guess what he looked like.
7
The Star Wars action figures (a name invented in the 1950s because toy companies thought boys wouldn’t buy a toy called a doll) were marketing magic.
They included multiples of a number of characters in different costumes.
There are seven Luke Skywalkers, including two from the first film, one in his regular white costume and once as an X-wing pilot.
The Death Squad Commander, renamed the more kid-friendly Star Destroyer Commander, creating a rarity in the process.
$76,000
There’s quite a big drop off from the top Boba Fett figures to the next most valuable figures.
$76,000 is the amount paid for a regular production run figure of Obi Wan Kenobi.
The key to this is a double-telescoping light sabre. These tiny, delicate features were easily broken off kids’ toys so they’re rare survivals.
2
Double issues are very valuable.
A great example is an early figure that Kenner put out called a “Death Squad commander”.
That’s a heavy concept for a kid’s film - Star Wars has some pretty explicitly political content, and George Lucas has been quote as saying the films rebellion is based on the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam.
3.75
3.75 inches is the height of most of these figures.
$1.99
The figures were made around the world under licence, in the UK by Palitoy.
In the US, the figures retailed for $1.99.
Some people are now getting a very good return on that.
300,000,000
Kenner probably produced around 300 million of their figures between 1977 and 1985.
So, to find rarities is difficult.
And to find rarities in their packaging and in good condition is even harder.
And that’s what every Star Wars collector wants to do.
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