Expert: Justin Case - 10/5/2009

Question
Hi!

Thanks very much for your time.

The Star Wars magazines in question consist of:

Star Wars Official Poster Monthly issues 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11,12,13 14, 17 (All from 1977)

Return of the Jedi - published in 1983 by Marvel in London (displaying price on cover in pence rather than cents) issues 2, 12x2, 13, 14, 16,17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 30.

There is also a Star Wars 'Official Collectors Edition' from 1977, as well as various 'Empire Strikes BAck' Official Poster Monthlies from 1980.

My friend asked me to have these valued and I personally have no idea regarding such matters, so would be extremely grateful for any help you are able to give :)

Best Regards,
John Clough

Answer
Hi John -

My pleasure!

The London issues in particular might have great value since they were generally produced in smaller quantities than their American or Canadian counterparts.  

Listed below is a website that many of us 'experts' use to get an idea of the value of a specific issue.  The website has a search function that can allow you to select a specific issue, and it has all the variant values according to condition and place of origin.

Check it out and see if you can find what you are looking for. Tell your friend to keep in mind that the specialty shops and many dealers will try to seriously undervalue the issue(s) if he attempts to sell them though those avenues.

I generally knock two-thirds off the value I get on the website in order to figure out what I call the 'retail value.'  Unfortunately my experience with specialty retailers and dealers has been that they are notoriously cheap and will very badly undervalue an issue in order to make what they think of as a good business deal.

My best advice is to look online or on eBay for collectors if your friend wants to get a more fair price for his collection.

Thanks, let me know if you have any other questions.  The website is located at:

http://www.comics.org/

Deran