The One That Got Away... Twice!

Everyone has at least one grail they would love to add to their collection; a comic that they covet above all others. In my case, there exists 4 grails: Marvel Comics Star Wars #1 - 4 with the $0.35 price and bar codes in the UPC rectangle.  For many Star Wars comic collectors, these are the most expensive comics you could add to a collection.  It is estimation only 1500 copies of each of these comics were distributed to select cities, or test markets, to see if people would mind the nickel increase from $0.30 to $0.35.^[1]  The test must have been a success, all copies of Star Wars #5 on were priced at $0.35 or more.

There were a few times in the past 35+ years of collecting that I could have stretched myself financially and purchased one of these grails.  In fact, I did make the attempt, twice, and in both cases, I ended up without one of my grails!

The first time I attempted to purchase one of these grails was about 4 years ago when Koch Comics listed a Star Wars #2 $0.35 price variant on eBay.  The Buy It Now! price was only $60.  That should have been my first clue there was going to be a problem as the price was a remarkable deal.  I eagerly hit the purchase button, sent my PayPal payment immediately, and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Finally, after 3 weeks had expired, I wrote a message to Koch Comics inquiring about my purchase.  They had lost the comics (or so they claimed.)  Instead, they refunded my money and sent me a Droids TPB and some other beat up Star Wars comics as consolation.  Talk about disappointment!

The second attempt was also another eBay listing and it was another Star Wars #2 $0.35 price variant.  It was about 3 years ago.  The price was high (under $400 if I recall), but not too high that I could not afford it.  The seller estimated the condition as VF+ and from the pictures that he posted on eBay, I would agree.  At the time, it was the most money I had ever spent on a single comic.  I purchased the comic and the comic arrived looking like this:

Star Wars #2 $0.35 variant - damaged in mail

Star Wars #2 $0.35 variant - damaged in mail

I could just cry!  Here I had finally received one of my grails, but it had been damaged in shipping.  I could not blame the post office for this one; the comic was in an USPS priority mail envelop without heavy cardboard for protection.  That comic sat in that envelop for a whole day while I pondered opening the package.  I was mad.  I was sad.  Ultimately, begrudgingly, I decided not to open the package and sent the package back to the seller and asked for a refund.  I had resigned myself to accept that owning one of these grails was not meant to be just yet.

I do not know if I made the right choice that day, but I do know that eventually, the stars will align and I will make another attempt to purchase one of my grails.  While these $0.35 variations are harder to find that most, like most U.S. published comics, they can be found and it usually comes down if you want to spend the money being asked or not.  That is not always the case when it comes to foreign Star Wars comics, which is one of the reasons I decided to pursue a foreign Star Wars comic collection.

References:

1. Star Wars #1 35 Cent Variant Facts, Values, Sales and Investment Review