Stars Wars 1st Print VHS Tapes were…RENTALS?!

Few cultural phenomena have achieved the global influence that Star Wars has. For nearly half a century, its expansive universe has captivated audiences worldwide, creating a deep-rooted and multi-generational fanbase. This widespread adoration has translated into a booming market for Star Wars collectibles, where items connected to the saga can fetch extraordinary prices. From first-edition comics to original movie props, the enduring appeal of Star Wars makes its collectibles not just nostalgic treasures, but also lucrative investments.

There are valuable and highly sought after Star Wars items in nearly every collectible category. Generally speaking, the collectibles that go for the most are from the original release year of 1977, or a first release for that category. For example, in 1977, Topps released the first of its 5-series Star Wars trading cards. The card series was extremely popular at the time of release, and to this day, is considered to be one of the top non-sports card collections on the market. Series 1, featuring 66 cards from characters like Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Darth Vader, contains the most valuable cards in the collection.

As with many collectibles, these cards need to be in excellent condition to be worth a significant amount of money. Cards in their highest grade (PSA 10) for R2-D2 have sold for over $4,000, Han Solo for $7,500, and Princess Leia for $9,300. But the most valuable card in the set is the #1 Luke Skywalker card which has sold for as high as $63,000 as PSA Gem Mint 10 in August 2023 at Robert Edward Auctions.

When looking at the comic category, the most valuable Star Wars comic is also the original release of Star Wars #1 from Marvel in July 1977. With its iconic cover, this comic is extremely popular among collectors. You have to be careful with this book because there is both a 30 cent price variant and a 35 cent price variant, which can significantly impact the value of the book. At the time of the release, Marvel was experimenting with increasing their prices by 5 cents and allegedly printed only about 1,500 copies with the 35 cent pricing for sale in Memphis, Toledo, Tuscaloosa and Wilmington. 

This made the 35 cent price variant comic significantly more rare, and therefore more valuable. According to GoCollect, the fair market value for a CGC 9.8 graded Star Wars #1 with the 30 cent variant is about $3,300, whereas a CGC 9.4 with the 35 cent variant sold for $56,400 on Heritage Auctions in November 2022. There are two 9.6 graded 35 cent variant books on the CGC census, neither of which have sold publicly, and zero 9.8 grades on the CGC census.

Some of the most significant sales we’ve seen for Star Wars collectibles, surprisingly, are actually from the action figure category. The record for the most expensive action figure ever sold actually belongs to Star Wars for the Kenner 1979 J-Slot (Version 2) Rocket-Firing (Mailer) Prototype Boba Fett. The product was never released to the public due to safety concerns for children over the detachable rocket, and so there are thought to only be three prototypes of this version in existence today. This action figure just recently sold at Goldin Auctions on August 17th, 2024 for a whopping $1.34 million.

We could certainly discuss other categories that have sold well like original Star Wars movie posters, movie ticket stubs, and movie props, but the category we’re really excited about and believe has huge room for growth is home media, specifically VHS and Betamax. 

Star Wars released the first commercial VHS tapes for public sale back in September 1982,  which is known as the “20th Century Drawer Box”. A Beckett graded 8.0 tape from this original commercial release set a world record for the highest publicly sold VHS tape at $114,000 on Goldin Auctions in October 2022. But are these the actual first prints of Star Wars on VHS? For many collectors, they are not.

In May of 1982, Star Wars released both a VHS and Betamax version as a rental library copy for local video stores. As part of the rental library program, video rental stores could carry the film for six months, only making the film available for rental, and then stores were supposed to return the tapes to Fox afterwards. Not all store owners abided by this, however, and according to collectors, some stores actually sold their rental copies to customers for as much as $125 (or about $400 inflation-adjusted to today). 

Most people are only familiar with the 20th Century Drawer Box commercial version, but the video rental library version was released a full four months beforehand, making it the true first print home media release of Star Wars. CGC started grading these tapes last year, which has given them some exposure. But for the most part, only a few hardcore collectors are paying attention to the video rental library versions, meaning the market hasn’t really caught on to their value yet.

Outside of their significance as first prints, the other thing that adds to the value of these tapes is that they have serial numbers on both the box and the tape. Being able to find one with matching serial numbers on the box and tape is fairly rare, and this significantly increases the value of the tape. A friend of the show owns a copy that has the number 1977 in the serial which we think will CRUSH once people better understand the importance of publishing year mint and serial numbers. 

We’re very grateful to have actually just had the highest known sale for one of these tapes, selling a CGC 8.5 graded rental library copy with matching serial numbers for $2,000. We’ve been stacking these tapes for almost two years and it’s incredibly validating to see such a big sale. Today, you can find rental copies raw on eBay for about $200-300, but we don’t expect prices to stay this low for long as more people catch on.

As the VHS and Betamax market matures and people start to recognize the significance of first prints, we believe the Star Wars rental library tapes will become a highly sought-after grail for home media collectors. When it comes to movie IPs, there are few properties with the global impact and collecting intrigue of Star Wars. And seeing where prices of first prints and first appearances of Star Wars collectibles in other categories have gone, it makes sense that VHS and Betamax will eventually catch up.

As always, this is not financial advice, but based on the facts and trends we’ve seen in the collectibles market, we believe there is significant room for growth for Star Wars rental library tapes and we are SO EXCITED for their future.