Cardback collectors discussion

That's a very nice L J cardback Chris.
I quite like seeing price / catalogue stickers as they add to the hostory of the piece.

It's the old Consumers Distributing sticker.  They where like Costco, back in the day.  And required a membership to shop there.

I have the CD sticker on my GG moc.  The sticker is legit.

Nice card Chris

Anything Canadian, our Clint knows about it

So it sounds like you've seen a lot of those?

The other cardback I picked up is more interesting because of the story. When I visited Dark Matter Toys & Collectables (a shop just outside London Ontario) a couple weeks ago, Craig, the owner told me that while he was at a toy show a couple months earlier, he saw a guy rip a pop up lightsaber R2 right off a card because he wanted a mint loose one for his collection.

First of all, even if that were all true, there was no need to rip it off there, on site, you might scuff up your R2 sticker before you even get home.   Crazy stuff right?

So yesterday I was at a downtown Toronto store (200km from London) that has some loose vintage (Treehouse Collectables) and the owner said he had some cardbacks that just came in. Wouldnt you know it, it was a pop up R2 with the bubble still attached. Not only that, but the guy who dropped the cardbacks off actually told the shop owner that he had just opened it himself recently.

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And it gets crazier, it was paired with a potf A-Wing pilot card too, ripped exactly the same way. I had to take both.

the89thchris wrote:This is a pretty clean, bright, unpunched Kenner USA Luke Jedi Cardback, but on the back there is a Toronto Canada sicker that I'm not familiar with. It might be more recently applied, there's not much I can glean from the numbers.

Chris, here are a couple of the Consumer Distributing stickered pieces that I have. I'm guessing the head quarters was in Toronto, but had stores all over Canada. The store number is on one end of the sticker, and the catalog number is on the other. Not sure what the other numbers are?

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Nice POTF R2. If I had seen the guy ripping the R2 off the card, I would have kicked his ass.

Interesting that you have US and Canadian examples, shows my ignorance, I didn’t know they weee allowed to sell the English only cards here at a legitimate retailer.

I sent that pic of the R2 card to Craig on the DM Facebook and he was like “That’s it!”, gave him a ptsd attack, apparently the guy he had in she shop at the time also saw it happen lol just crazy

I just looked this up. This is probably why you can find the sticker on both US & Canadian cards.  It was in the US as well.
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I'm bringing this over from the latest pick-ups thread.

cantina_patron wrote:

Commander Clint wrote:Thanks Ian, Andy & Steve.

I did notice the contrast on the LXW's.  I don't know if it was normal for that particular card, or just an error?  I'll have to see if I can find some pictures of others to compare to.

I'll be interested to konw your findings Clint.   (I hope you didn't mind me asking) Either way, it is still a great looking cardback.

So I went on wamprat.com, and into the Canadian cardback matrix.  It's really hard to tell from all the different picture sources.  Depends on the lighting at the time, photoshoped, etc....
But I'm guessing the printer might have needed a bit more yellow tone, and or they were getting low on yellow at the time.
The 20B shown, looks like the normal orange. They actually have the 20D listed as "unknown if they exist", so it exists.

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Here are the 4 different ones that I have.  The ROTJ 77 back, seems to be a shade lighter orange than the others.

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That's a nice run of Canadian LXW cards Clint. What you said about the yellow pigment running out makes perfect sense.

Here's a couple of interesting cardbacks I've picked up.

When I purchased this DSD I thought it was a standard 20E. Once in hand, I noticed that it also has the earlier plain black 20D sticker underneath the yellow text sticker. I can only think that as the running change took place, unused 20D card stock at the factory had this later sticker added before the figures were attached & sent out to retail. I've not seen one before. Has anyone else?






I also have this Stormie 32A with a Smile (S) factory code in the racetrack. It is commonly believed that the first factory codes appeared on the 41A cardbacks. Having done some additional reasearch I see that a 32B example was documented on TIG last year. I'd love to hear of other characters on a 32A with a factory code or whether anyone has come across earlier cards with a factory code?

According to the SWCA, the DSD it'ss a 20F. I knew there was a bunch of variations of the US 20 back. I just didn't know which one.

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I just checked some of my extra Canadian cards, and could only find one 32 back with factory code. But another 32 back of the same character didn't have the code. I'll have to check the rest of the cards after work and get back to you.

Thank you for the links Clint. I was going by the Kellerman book, but the swac site looks to be more upto date and I now know my DSD is a confirmed example of a 20 back with this sticker combination.

Like you, I also have a 32A of the same character with & without a factory code.
It would be interesting to know whether Smile was the first factory to add these codes.

The 32B I refered to had the Unitoy (U) factory code.

From my Canadian cards. These are all I can find.
1 - 31A - "S"
2 - 32A - "S"

After that, all the 41's have factory codes.

Thank you for checking Clint.

I was wondering whether some of the 31 backs would also have a factory code. so it's good to know that they do exist!

cantina_patron wrote:

I was wondering whether some of the 31 backs would also have a factory code. so it's good to know that they do exist!

I could only find 1 from all the 31 backs & if I remember, it was a Rebel Soldier.

The two 32 backs where both Yoda's.

Well I've decided to sell my cardbacks, they are just stuck in a cupboard, i'll use whatever I get to buy more vintage goodies
Appreciate any help on what you think they are worth,
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Ian, I won't be able to help with the Palitoy cards.  But the US Kenner ROTJ cards are probably between $15 - $25, depending on the character. Maybe a bit more in today's market.   The alt art Luke is probably worth more.  Not sure what to value it?

I'm sure a Palitoy or focus collector will jump all over those cards.

Thanks Clint, appreciate it, I've not kept track of what I paid apart from the first two palitoy cards I paid over the odds for those at 20.00 plus, just loved the logo on them
Cheers for the help,

Love those Palitoy cardbacks Ian! That Han Hoth looks really sharp. I like how the photo just looks bigger on those because there is no company logo.

I thought I'd share this because its really cool and I mentioned to Clint that I also have one yesterday (though his is considerably nicer).  

The 20 (not 21) back Canadian Fett card:

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The iPhone portrait mode made the edges look weird, in reality, they're fine.

Chris, that's a fantastic looking 20 back Fett.  And a tough one to find. Congrats.

Chris just happened to be in the area, not to far from my house, so he stopped in for a chat.  I was showing him, my latest cardback, and it happens to be another Canadian 20B.

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Supurb additions Chris & Clint.

Ian, I'm sure you'll have no problem selling your cardbacks. They appear to have a growing collectors market and you have some nice pieces.

nice pickups guys, look great!
And thanks Steve, appreciate it,

I suppose many of you guys are aware, but I was not: Clint has the most mindblowing collection of Canadian card backs. That stormtrooper is a great addition.

It's certainly an area that I'm going to pay more attention to.

the89thchris wrote:
It's certainly an area that I'm going to pay more attention to.

It can be very addictive Chris, as I'm sure Clint has told you.

Hmm, here are my complete thoughts on the matter:

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