The Toyman Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/291167250870?clk_rvr_id=654393518312 !!!!!!! Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morbius Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 That really beats out the "Jabba's Dungeon" playset I saw for 2Gs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Toyman Posted June 23, 2014 Author Share Posted June 23, 2014 Morbius, Check where it finished, I'm gob smacked! Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roboz Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 The under bidder seemed to have bid it right up to a penny below the magic 50K mark & 70% of his bids were with the seller. Don't know how reputable that particular grading firm is Could be legit could be bogus Seems awful high for a character from a TV series cartoon -_- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandro Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 Lot of fake bids... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 Rather have a Diamond Planet for that amount of money!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Toyman Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 Yes, I looked at the 'bidding' it makes you think, I mean $50K for a cartoon figure???? I'd fly Business Class to Marco's with a shopping list for that money!!! Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marco Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Hello Noel The opening hours are as follows: From monday till sunday: 00:01 - 23.59 hours :) You can land your plane on my private airport. :-) See ya soon hahahaha. I am not really into starwars but from what I have learned is that these cardboards are produced in the UK :) Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fineas J. Whoopie Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 The fees associated with this transaction alone would buy a really nice robot! Feebay has to love these transactions!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dratomic Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Before you comment guys, you should take a second to understand what you're looking at. This isn't just a carded action figure. It's a hardcopy. A prototype. Hand-made of resin, hand-painted, and then attached to a card to mock up a sample. One of a kind, and for many collectors, a holy-grail level piece. It's 100% legit. That said, the price did raise a few eyebrows in the collecting community. Prototypes are REALLY hot right now, but I don't think anyone saw it going this high. Whether it's shill bidding or not, we may never know. But I've seen some pre-production stuff that sold for only a few hundred dollars a couple years ago rocketing past the $1000 mark today. I've got to say, I'm a bit surprised -- and kind of bummed -- to see things like "I mean $50L for a cartoon figure????" coming out of the mouths of other toy collectors. As if the prices for toy robots and ray guns makes any more sense? (Try convincing most people out there that a boxed Machine Man is worth $120,000... let me know when they stop laughing.) We're all in the same crazy boat, guys, and it's probably worth pausing for a second before disparaging another hobby, especially when we don't know the whole story behind a piece. I know I hate it when people mock the stuff WE collect... </rant> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Toyman Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 Doc, Understood, and to the collector who has everything else on the list ( and funds permitting ) the thrill of owning this item outweighs any comments they are likely to read here. How do you put a price on anything? Baseball cards and comics selling for a million plus, works of art fetching tens of millions. Looking at the buying history of the bidders it just seemed a bit odd that this flew up to $50K. Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roboz Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 I understand perfectly what I'm looking at , apparently a shill laden auction of a carded prototype toy from a star wars cartoon of a relatively obscure character that's fairly simple in design & coloring. Graded by an 'investment' grading company with a somewhat dubious background to say the least. A machine man for 120K seems like a steal by comparison. I'm not dissing the item as it's interesting rather the price & particulars of the auction that may have assisted in it's steep price but hey to each his own & I expect the layman to scoff at outlandish robot prices too & I certainly wouldn't take it personally if they do ;) Some things to ponder about AFA Grading...? I started reading up on AFA related topics after a friend told me he had submitted some really nice figures for AFA grading. After AFA received his toys, he was contacted by Tom Derby, a representative of a collectibles brokerage company, and solicited to sell the items he had sent to AFA. He did actually sell one of the items to Tom Derby. Later on I would learn that Tom Derby is the previous owner (1998-2005) of CCC - Cloud City Collectibles (One of the largest AFA Sellers in the hobby), part-owner of AFA (2007), Owner of CIB (????) - Collectibles Investment Brokerage (authenticating service that AFA uses exclusively), and part-time business partner (2007) of Brian Semling of Brian's Toys (One of the other biggest sellers of AFA items). This got me thinking about what a great opportunity it would be, to be able to cherry-pick any of the hundreds of thousands of items that have been submitted to AFA, for their impartial, **"anonymous"**, third-party grading. I'll bet some real gems have been sent to AFA by people that are not well-researched, or educated in the area of vintage action figures. Only to have their personal information forwarded to Tom Derby, so they can be swept off their feet by a cash offer of probably less than half of what the figure is worth. The majority of the info that made the CCC/CIB/AFA/Tom Derby/Brians Toys Connection more accessible was from the forums on rebelscum.com , where Tom Derby posted regularly for a long while (4/9/02 through 10/10/07). Some posts from the AFA section on rebelscum.com forums.... 1...http://threads.rebelscum.com/showfla...part=1#2652094 = AFA debate thread on rebelscum.com forums ....5th post down (Steve Tomlinson)explains how items sent in for AFA grading are cherry-picked by Tom Derby,(former owner of Cloud City Collectibles, Part owner in AFA, Owner of Collectors Investment Brokerage, partner with Brian Semlinson of Brians Toys. 2...Same thread....10th post = CollectInvest, (Tom Derby) confirms that toys submitted to AFA, very well may have been purchased by him, before hitting the market......This means that every rare, highgrade collectible submitted to AFA is made known to Tom Derby, who being part owner, could use his advantageous position as part-owner to contact the toys owner, and try to convince him to sell. What a great opportunity to exploit collectors lack of knowledge in Vintage toys. 3...AFA and Cloud City Collectibles are geographically 7.5 miles apart????? 4...http://threads.rebelscum.com/showfla...part=1#2849182 = AFA Section on rebelscum.com forums, thread titled..."Tom Derby filed AFA Certificate of Incorporation" 5...First post provides links to State of Georgia public files of AFA Incorporation by Tom Derby in 2002.....Tom Derby owned Cloud City Collectibles until 2005.. copied + pasted from first post in thread..... The 2002 filing is available herehttp://corp.sos.state.ga.us/imaging/12990948.pdf Other documents related to the ownership of AFA and Cloud City Collectibles are available herehttp://corp.sos.state.ga.us/corp/soskb/Corp.asp?1068433http://corp.sos.state.ga.us/corp/soskb/Corp.asp?161229 Make of this what you will. 6.... Copied + Pasted response from Tom Derby Tom's Response: Hi Demolition, An Incorporator is a person who executes the Articles of Incorporation for a company. I have addressed this topic on several occasions and have even addressed issues of ownership. The term agent or incorporator doesn’t reflect officers of a corporation or the breakdown of ownership. In addition, privately-held companies do not file public documents related to ownership or changes in ownership. A Georgia resident must also file some of these documents and Charles Ware has never been a Georgia resident. I will once again go on record to say that I have no ownership in Cloud City Collectibles. I will also go on record to say that I do now have ownership in AFA. I hope this information is helpful to you. Thank you, Tom 7....Above response Tom Derby publicly states he has ownership in AFA. 8....Tom Derby claims to have sold CCC in 2005....16th post in AFA debate thread on rebelscum.com forums 9...CIB has an office in the AFA building.....16th post in AFA debate thread on rebelscum.com forums ***The thing that bothers me most about this whole mess, is that, if you haven't figured it out, AFA was incorporated as a business in the State of Georgia in 2002, by Tom Derby. ......In 2002, Tom Derby owned Cloud City Collectibles, who has consistently been the leading retailer/seller of AFA items since AFA began doing business. Everyone's opinions and conclusions are their own........but the facts are the facts.......no matter who tries to sugarcoat them. I am hoping this thread will inspire people to do their own research on this subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roboz Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 And for even more controversy http://forum.rebelscum.com/t1111060/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morbius Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Well put Oz, puts a whole new perspective to this AFA thing at least for me yeh I was slow at picking up on it...should've seen through it. Kind of figured there was something behind it all, makes sense. All those innocent SW toys being used in such a nefarious manner. An you never get to touch the toys that's the sad part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roboz Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 It is sad & very similar to what sports 'collectibles' have gone through for decades , FYI I copied & pasted the AFA commentary but if I was buying into that market I certainly would be doing my due diligence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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