Master Replicas Star Wars Resale Market - Opinions?

[jdebord]

Hey all,

My first interest in props (original or replica) was Star Wars Master Replica pieces - that's really what drew me into the hobby. My first prop was their Luke Jedi, and I had planned to begin and end there, but once I had it, I got the bug.

I had originally bought every Star Wars product MR put out, then my interests shifted to original props, and I sold all my replicas (MR, and a handful of other licensed and unlicensed pieces). At the time, I did well with resale, and actually walked away with more than I put in. This was late 2004. Most of the pieces I had appreciated, and for those that didn't, the others made up for it.

I was curious, since I've been out of the replica game for so long, how MR Star Wars pieces in particular have done in resale.

Do the earlier releases command more money, just by virtue of having come out longer?

Or is it really a matter of supply and demand, and how big each run was, in quantity?

Do any pieces in particular stand out as rare or highly coveted (with resale values to match)?

Are any particularly plentiful/undesirable - or have any saturated the market?

How has the sheer quantity of pieces made affected the collectors market? Do most pick and choose? Is there a significant "completists" segment of collectors who get most of everything?

With MR ending their license, do you think this will generally lead to trending upward or downward on values? Will people lose interest and move onto other things, or will it lead people to perhaps play catch up and fill in blanks in their collections?

Anyway, I'd just be interested in hearing some general opinions on the value of Master Replicas Star Wars props, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Jason

 

[DemonSeed]

Errr Just a couple come into my mind...
Clean Obiwan saber
ROTJ Luke LE

 

[Jedifyfe]

These things have value??? Who knew?

 

[lonepigeon]

Check this website:
http://www.toytracker.net/master/
It will tell you exactly what each MR product is going for these days.
Click the blue magnifying glass under each item for all the details.

 

[Vader Dad]

My two cent opinion is that all of MR's pieces will eventually not hold their current value. This opinion isn't based so much on modern day supply/demand, but more the historic trend of any mass produced item.

It's kind of like the baseball card bubble that existed in the mid-eighties -early nineties (you other collectors know what I'm talking about). Everyone bought into the biz, hoping to eventually put their unborn children through college with their investment return. Then, not surprisingly, the bubble burst as soon as everyone realized that no one really cared about cardboard pictures of athletes. The market was extremely over saturated and most serious collectors realized that none of the currently released cards would ever hold value.

I think the same of today's MR market.

Bottomline: Collect 'em if you love 'em. Don't collect 'em if you view them as nothing but investment.

 

[DavidS]

yeh....... thats a good point about the baseball card bubble.......

on that note anyone wanta buy my Frank Thomas collection

 

[PodRacer X]

Comic books suffered the same fate baseball cards did in the 90's.

Vader Dad is 100% correct in my opinion. Most collectables are not good financial investments. They're fun.

 

[cayman shen]

I've never made a profit, personally.

 

[Gigatron]

The only way that they're going to be worth real money is if everyone decides that they're going to be worthless and throws them away or somehow destroys them.

A Babe Ruth card wasn't worth anything when he was still playing. It wasn't until years later when most cards had long been destroyed or lost (you know, getting stuck in the bike spokes or used to scrape poop off your shoe), when it was realized that only a few survived in decent condition that the price went up.

The same with star wars figures. All of us played with and abused our figures and vehicles as kids. I'm sure more than a few lukes and hans met their demise at the opposite side of a magnifying glass or strapped to a bottle rocket. Heck, in the late 80's, you could buy a MOC figure for 99 cents at some places that had found boxes of them in the back room. Now, good luck getting some of them for under $100 if not way more.

It's the same with every collectible on the face of the earth. If everyone saves them, they won't be worth squat. Trust me, if DaVinci had painted 40,000 copies of the Mona Lisa, you'd be able to get them off of ebay for $50. It's the rarity that makes them expensive.

It's why the late 90's re-release of the figures and EP.'s I, II and III toys won't be worth the plastic they're made of. Everyone has them and everyone has them MOC. How can I sell one to you for $50 if you've already got 3 of them?

Your only hope is that everyone decides to throw them away or open them and yours becomes collectable. Otherwise, just collect them to enjoy them, not for an investment.

-Fred

 

[franz bolo]

I think they will still have value unless another company picks up the license and starts producing more accurate versions.

Then they will be like Icons.

FB

 

[Howard]

For two collectors who haven't got 'X' piece and it's for sale - it's worth whatever whichever collector can afford the highest price above the other.
eBay will continue to establish the market value.
I agree with FB - but I'd really be interested to see another company produce the studio scale replicas with such a drive and attention to detail.

Fred's right - it's the rarity which maintains an edition's value.
Ever hear about the comic guy who produced his own title?
It didn't sell very well, so he bought back all the issues and destroyed them, keeping a couple for himself which are now worth more than his initial layout.

 

[SHalamar]

Some of the MR's are worth more than the initial run. Some.. are not.

They are limited, but not widely so. The RotS peices, while still very nice, were over produced, and you can pick them up for around $200-$250.

It also depends on the character. The Rebel Blaster, while a very nice peice, and replica, isn't very popular. You can pick it up for under $200.

The ones that will likely continue to hold value are the very low numbers (Single digits), and the artist proofs.

 

[yodasan]

Some of the saber SE are still commanding prices significantly above retail - eg ANH Vader dual SE. But in general it is a bad idea to get
into the SW collectibles if your only goal is to make money.

 

[Gigatron]

Some of the saber SE are still commanding prices significantly above retail - eg ANH Vader dual SE. But in general it is a bad idea to get
into the SW collectibles if your only goal is to make money.

Signatures/autographs are a tricky business.

You trust the MRs to be legit autographs, so they're worth something just for that alone. Plus, they're signatures of the key actors, not the 3rd best boy or the assistant key grip. Combined with the fact that so few were actually made and again, the rarity bumps up the price.

Now if you really want to see the value of of an SE saber jump, wait till the actor dies. Autographs have little more than sentimental value while the actor is alive. Why? Because maybe he's an attention hog and signs 50 autographs a day. At that rate, everybody in the world will have one in a few weeks. But maybe he only signs one every once in a while. But at least while he's alive, there's a chance of scoring an autograph. Try getting him to sign something when he's dead. That's it, once an actor's dead, there will be no more new autographs popping up. The ones in existence just suddenly became a hot commodity.

-Fred

 

[DL 44 Blaster]

Just chiming in on the resale/rarity "thing"....I've personally had better re-sale values on some of my one-off replicas that I've finished. While my time invested is essentially being paid for, I've not lost "money".

With regards to the MR bubble, I think if any given SW prop released by MR can be bought at significantly below MSRP is the ticket to ensuring your investment will be at least able to return your money someday.

I don't buy props for investments, but would at least like to not take too much of a hit when selling, and on occasion actually make a profit to balance the ones that go for less.

I've been trying to practically give my 12" Hasbro figures away at less than half MRSP and I can't even do that:unsure

 

[KenKenobi2]

It seems to me that the earlier MR's do better than the later ones. And truth be told, the lower number produced, the better off you are.

My Windu SE, my ObiWan EpII and My Skywalker SE are all I have left. I've sold the rest. The Windu could probably pull over what I paid. The rest I could recoup my expenses.

KK2

 

[Ging]

Don't think I can see my MR on that tracker site. I have the Han Blaster which I belive was the first gun they produced. Any idea on value ?

 

[ReturningSon]

Since MR is dumping their SW license, I believe that all of their products are going to increase their market price value by, on select items, 200%. I just got through buying a MR Qui Gon Jin Saber (probbably the most underrated piece ever released by MR yet still sold out nonetheless) and a Han Solo Elite Edition. Retail value, these items are over $1,000 (figure $650 for the Han and $350 for the Jinn) yet I only paid a total of $475 (that's everything e.g shipping, taxes etc) which means I got these items at roughly 50% their retail value.

Now, obviously retail value and market value are not the same thing but take a look at some products that followed the same pattern. When the ROTS Obi first came out, people were going as low as $200 shipped, now it is steadily climbing to over $400. Same for other sabers. While the older sabers and blasters like the Han Solo Reg. Ed and the Lukes all have steady increasing rates, the "newer" products are beginning to raise in value. My suggestion is to buy while they are still relatively low before they skyrocket. At the beginning of next year, you will see MR items jump because of the production halt. I believe the signature editions and Elite Editions, as well as the fan favorites will rise. Sabers like the ROTS vader and the Darth Sidious will remain 25 to 35% lower than other editions because of the lack of fan appeal.

Look at the Icons situation. When they closed their doors, their pieces remained relatively lower than retail yet after two years, collectors are killing for them (like you and me). Granted they didn't release the same product volume yet they did manage to release over 5,000 sabers of each edition which is a substantial number. Even the 1,000 sig eds were all sold out.

All that aside, this is just a piece of advice. Many collectors are starting to get worried about completing their collection and many are now buying since the prices are low which means the market supply will dwindle. And you know what happens when supply goes down and demand goes up......