A lot of people in recent years have clocked onto the fact that old trading cards and other collectibles can sell for a lot of money at auction.
Typically, it’s sports trading cards for famous players that sell for the most but Star Wars is a special kind of franchise that can also produce some surprisingly lucrative merchandise.
According to the previous trends of auction sales, the right kind of
However, you should bear in mind that it’s only a very particular set of cards that will earn you anywhere near this much.
In this guide, I’ll be talking you through some of the most expensive Star Wars cards ever sold at auction, as well as looking deeper into what makes one so valuable.
1977 Star Wars Luke Skywalker #1
This is the type of Star Wars trading card you’ll need to get a hold of if you’re interested in making the really big bucks.
It comes from the Topps Series 1 Star Wars collection and depicts
Star Wars:
While you might be drooling at the prospect of making that much money from a single trading card, you’re probably also wondering what makes this particular card so valuable.
There are a few different factors that contribute to this card’s value:
The Year
The most important thing to note about this card is the year it came out in. 1977 was the year that the first Star Wars movie was released and it was also the year that the first ever batch of trading cards for the franchise was released.
This means that the 1977 Topps Star Wars trading cards are the oldest official merchandise around.
When it comes to trading cards, the richest collectors are looking for the best of the best, and being able to say your card is one of the oldest in existence is cause for major bragging rights and thus move perceived value.
Regardless of how many of the cards were printed in 1977, far fewer will be in circulation now.
After all, how many of your old toys and figurines from childhood have you kept around for over 40 years?
Over the decades, these cards will have been destroyed, lost, or forgotten about by people who had no idea how valuable they could be in the future.
The Condition
The other major contributing factor to the famous $55,000 sale of a
All trading cards can be graded on the PSA scale to give an idea of what kind of condition they are in.
The PSA scale goes from 1-10 with 1 indicating a very poor condition and 10 indicating a nearly perfect condition, often preserved in a plastic sleeve or case.
It is believed that only 9 copies of this
Unfortunately, this means that, even if you could find one of these cards at the back of an old closet in your house, it likely wouldn’t be in anywhere near a good enough condition to sell for tens of thousands of dollars at auction.
The Series
I previously described this type of card as a ‘1977 Star Wars
When Topps released their first sets of Star Wars trading cards in 1977, they did so in 5 different series.
Each series had 66 different cards in them, all based around key characters or moments in the first Star Wars movie.
However, Topps released the rest in order (1, 2, 3, 4, then 5).
This means that the first series of cards, which are denoted by a blue border around the image of the character, was the first to be released and are therefore the most desirable.
I’m not saying that cards from the other 1977 series aren’t valuable (a series 5
What Other Characters Have Valuable Trading Cards?
Luke Skywalker was the protagonist of the first three movies in the Star Wars franchise so it’s no surprise that his cards tend to be the most valuable.
However, there are plenty of other popular characters that will still earn a pretty penny.
In general, it is that first 1977 release of Topps Star Wars cards that are the most valuable, regardless of which character is on the front.
Here are some 1977 Card values. (2019, auction prices)
- Han Solo #139 – $411
- Luke Skywalker # 255 – $455
- Luke Skywalker # 57 – $516
- Millennium Flacon #323 – $510
- Han Solo #19 – $535
- Death Star #31 – $714
- Darth Vader #17 – $910
- Ben (obi-wan) #6 – $1,531
- The Light Sabre #45 -$1,580
- May the Force Be with You #63 – $1,800
- Grand Moff Tarkin #8 – $2,076
- Han and Leia #216 – $ 2,551
- Princess Leia #180 – $2,551
- Luke in Disguise #125 – $2,551
- Leia and Luke #299 – $2,673
- Bizarre Inhabitants #277 – $3,175
- Create of Tatooine #262 – $3,200
- Darth Vader #254 – $3,550
- Carrie Fisher #190 – $3,600
- Chewbacca # 117 – $3,600
- C3P0 # 207 – $3800
- Marvelous C3P0 # 256 – $4,749
- Luke Skywalker #1 – $7,388 (UPDATE for 2021, This sold for $55,000)
Even if you have a 1977 card for the most obscure character in the movie, it will still be worth a decent amount.
Final Thoughts
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about the world of Star Wars trading cards and finding out why the 1977 first edition
Sadly for most of us, it’s too late to make any serious money from cards like these but there are still trading cards being printed every day which could end up being just as valuable in a few decades.
If you get a hold of any kind of trading card that you think could become valuable later down the line, make sure you keep it protected and store it in a safe place.
You never know, it could earn you a small fortune in the future!
Brad Burnie is the founder of Starships.com. He loves all video game genres. In his spare time, he loves reading, watching movies, and gaming