eBay Today 1266: Back In My Day Part 2 Electric Boogaloo
Posted By D. Martin on September 21, 2012
In an unrelated conversation with a friend the other day the discussion of Princess Leia came up, and not necessarily the sexiness of the character as much iconic nature of the character was the focal point for a few moments. Let's face it, any of the conversations we have with fellow fans loops around back to Star Wars (often), and we could likely set our clocks to the frequency we go back to it. But the point we were discussing was about one of the posters produced in 1977 from Factors Inc. A poster, that to me, both showcases Leia's sexiness and spunk.
Over the last couple of years I've been putting together a collection of original posters. I've never had the intention to have a complete collection, or even a complete focused collection of original posters, but having all the posters I personally like has kept me moving forward and has kept the phrase "Star Wars Poster" in my eBay search repertoire for some time. (LOL! Just typing that made me go back and look at poster auctions for forty minutes).
I'll tell you honestly, when it comes to Original Trilogy theatrical release posters, I have a very hard time trusting eBay, and think everyone should take the same precautions I have and research, research, and research before pulling the trigger on any of those items.
Not every poster printed before 1983 should cost a lot of money however, and that's really what this edition of eBay Today is all about. I'd be remiss to state that it is difficult to write about an item I'm currently looking for, but I can't get past the price the seller is expecting to get on the item I'm so desperately looking to add to my collection. Don't get me wrong, I think a seller should stand by their price and only they know what price tips the scale from keep to sell, but after exhausting the 'Make An Offer' option offering fair market value for the 1977 Factors Inc. Princess Leia poster I'm at a loss. no more than two months ago I bought the equally iconic Darth Vader poster for $15, and right now there is one on eBay for $.99. What's that tell you?
Simple. No matter how sexy or iconic Princess Leia is, a mass produced poster from 1977 isn't worth $125. Heck, it is barely worth a fifth of that price. Read: Don't Buy It!
Related, in the Dark Ages, visionary Jon Bradley Snyder unwittingly started his Star Wars career by self-publishing Reports From The Star Wars Generation, which featured the above mentioned Leia poster (brilliantly) on the cover of the first -and unfortunately last- issue of the magazine. The periodical was quickly shut down by Lucasfilm, but don't feel bad for Snyder, as he went on to become the Editor in charge of turning the Lucasfilm Fan Club magazine into the star Wars Insider, and was able to legitimize his vision of Star Wars fandom in an official capacity... and in doing so, many, many, many years later inadvertently hijacked an edition of eBay Today.
If you don't own a copy of JBS's Report From The Star Wars Generation, you need to forget what the topic of this eT was intended to be (much like I have) and get this outstanding example of Star Wars fandom.