Customer Reviews

Official Price Guide to Star Wars Memorabilia

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The title of this book is misleading. It should be called "Official COLLECTOR'S Guide to Star Wars Memorabilia". That's because it's really more of a guide for collectors who want to know the history behind many collectible items. It discusses aspects such as bootlegs, production errors, preserving and storing your collectibles, how and where to buy, and so on.

What it DOESN'T do (at least not thoroughly enough for me) is list the going prices for all Star Wars memorabilia. I have a collection I'm looking to sell piecemeal, so I wanted a resource that would tell me what a fair asking price is for my items. This book has a surprising lack of depth when it comes to price listings, however.

For instance, there is no listing of prices for common collectibles such as posters! I also could not find a price listing for the Burger King glassware sets, and various other items that I have in my collection. And even the items that this book does list often have "N/A" for the original retail price and the MISB (Mint In Sealed Box) price.

What it DOES have that might be of interest to a collector is a reference number that you can use to look up the item on the web site database www.rebelscum.com/swdb. Even so, I perused that database, and while it has some great photos and details on Star Wars collectibles (it actually lists the text written on the back of those Burger King glasses!) it does not offer an online price guide, which is what I'm in need of.

So for the serious Star Wars collector, I give this book 5 stars. But as a "price guide" -- which is what it bills itself as -- it falls far short so I have to take back 2 stars.

What makes this price guide worth the money is the 225 pages BEFORE the price guide.

If you're new to collecting, this book has practically everything you need to become not merely COMPETENT at it, but SKILLED, even for non-Star Wars related items. It extensively covers terminology, grading, and even online auctions.

If you're a veteran collector, it covers vintage Star Wars items, variations, prototypes, protecting your collection, and even trading cards and comic books.

This is more than merely a list of items and prices. It's truly a "guide" to collecting.

I'd like to begin by noting that this isn't a bad book for the price. It contains some interesting and worthwhile information, and parts of it were fun/interesting to read. I particularly liked the chapter that dealt with reproduction weapons and other fake items (though it would have been nice if it included a few example photos). There were also solid chapters dealing with the history of Star Wars collectables, as well as vintage and new figures, trading cards, comics, etc..

My two main concerns about this book were the quality of the rating system and the price guide (both seemed somewhat misleading). For example, on page 25 he shows a picture of a vintage R2-D2 figure that is in TERRIBLE condition, but gives it a C6 rating. However, I think most collectors would give it a much lower rating (and many would probably just throw it away it's in such bad shape!). Further, if anything, the price estimates provided in this book seem too low! For example, the price guide says a mint/complete loose blue Snaggletooth sells for $55 (but, I've never seen one go for that little anywhere). So, if the author is selling his mint/complete blue Snaggletooth at that price, I'll take it!

Other minor concerns include a price guide that is more confusing than most, and calling the book an "official" price guide when there doesn't seem to be any formal connection at all (I didn't see it stated anywhere, but it seems this is just a name the publisher uses for all their collectable books).

In sum, most of the information provided in this book is not new and is also available elsewhere (by far the best option being John Kellerman's Star Wars Vintage Action Figures: A Guide for Collectors). Though you'll probably pay more for many of these other books, most will contain a lot more photos, be in full color, and be printed on high quality semi-gloss paper. By contrast, this book contains only a modest number of photos, is 98% black and white, and is printed on newsprint. For all of these reasons, I give this book 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4 stars because even an average book on Star Wars collectables is still pretty good).

This book is a fantastic way to learn how to price items. Since markets fluctuate, and price guides become outdated very quickly, it was a great read that informed me of what to look for when both buying and selling. With the information in this book, you can compare your item with those on the market and it will help you adequately critique and value you're collectible. If you are in a market to get quick numbers for pricing items...this is not the book for you. But if you want to learn what makes items valuable, and how to preserve those that are, this is definitely the book to get.

its was okay not as good as the field guide but it had info that the field guide didn't have .