With the ever increasing costs of carded vintage Star Wars figures, cardback collecting has become a popular alternative way of collecting. Some collectors, however, have always been one step ahead of the game and many collectors will know of Jason Smith and his Palitoy cardback matrix. To Jason, cardback collecting has been an important way of documenting evidence of Palitoy cardbacks; such as identifying which figures were available on which cardback, which factory produced which cardback and Palitoy’s reach beyond the UK.
Indeed, it is this final point which serves as the basis for this article. Palitoy not only produced carded figures for the UK market but also for the German (General Mills) and Benelux (Clipper) markets too.
This doesn’t look German! Well, from the front the only way you can tell is the ‘v’ shaped punch at the top. The German text appears on the rear of the cardback.
It is coming up to two years now since the scandal first broke that a toy dealer allegedly purchased some cardbacks direct from the Palitoy factory and then found a way to attach the bubbles to the cardback to create mint carded figures. Jason’s website has been an invaluable resource in identifying probable affected cardbacks and this was the impetus for an update. Jason was keen to collate all of the known information for genuine and affected cardbacks together in one place all under the Palitoy umbrella.
GM45a
The 45a cardback was replaced very quickly by Palitoy due to the English text at the top of the card which proudly states “Star Wars Action Figures. Collect all 45!” Some of these did make it to the German market but are incredibly difficult to find. The left over stock was purchased when the Palitoy factory closed and therefore there are almost 1500 carded figures designated 45a that are not believed to be genuine in circulation today.
GM45b
Once Palitoy recognised their mistake the 45b cardbacks were printed which removed the English text.
Many of these were produced and sold in Germany. Indeed, when the Palitoy factory ran out of UK cardbacks they simply printed stickers which covered the German factory information on the bottom third of the cardback as shown here. A practice that they continued with later German and Clipper carded figures too.
Sadly, over 3000 of these cardbarks are claimed to be not legitimate products.
GM45c
Finally for the German market Palitoy produced a 45c variation featuring the Return of the Jedi logo.
Genuine figures found on this cardback are incredibly rare, in the single digits. The one photographed above was seen for the first time at the recent Farthest From Toy Show and it’s incredible to see these new discoveries still happening nearly 40 years later. Sadly, the cardback above shows the tell tale signs of iron marks and there is no evidence to show this cardback ever leaving the Palitoy factory.
Clipper 45
The Clipper cardbacks are very distinctive in their appearance.
As mentioned previously, some of these carded figures have been found with English text covering the foreign text on the reverse when the UK stock was running low. It appears that the foreign text on the front was not covered which explains why Palitoy used the German cardbacks when they could as these did not feature any additional text on the front. Almost 300 of the Clipper cardbacks are believed to be not genuine.
With new discoveries happening fairly regularly Jason is keen on hearing from other collectors about variations which may not be listed on his guide. To contact Jason, or for further information about the role of the Palitoy factory with regards to Star Wars collecting, check out Jason Smith’s website at www.freewebs.com/mrpalitoy/
