Regarding the rare Yoda promo, we all know the story about how it was withdrawn because the art was not approved. But does anyone recall when and how people first learned of its existence? Was it first reported somewhere ? And when was the first known sale? Keep in mind this was all before wide scale use of the internet in the late 90s. Back then you learned of these things in print form or by meeting people at shows.

I don't remember when I first heard about it and I might have first read it in that "Collect!" article, "Collectors Most Wanted" from September 1996. It was an annotated list of the top 18 most wanted promo cards/sets. In it, Lee Stinson Lane, one of the big collectors at the time, reported that the licensor didn't approve the artwork but the card did get printed and about 50 got out. Lane knew of just one sale at $200 at the time.

NSU didn't have it in the price guide by the Feb-March 1996 issue. Maybe Bill Mullins recalls when collectors started talking about it - maybe as a rumor at first. I don't have an issue after that until the Dec 1997-Jan 1998 issue in which Bill DeFranzo priced it as "speculative." In any case it seems there were a couple of years after the set was released before this P3 first leaked onto the market.

Since then, the going-rate for the card pierced the $1000 level early but dropped and settled around $300-350 in recent years because there was always one (sometimes two) on Ebay. It seems like more than 50 got out and the estimate seems to be around 100.

The card has jumped in value this year for some reason - maybe because it hasn't been easy to find in that time. One sold was an auction that ended at $699.99 with 26 bids on August 22 and another sold as a Best Offer for somewhere less than $999.99 (maybe $750-900?) on August 30.

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
Regarding the rare Yoda promo, we all know the story about how it was withdrawn because the art was not approved. But does anyone recall when and how people first learned of its existence? Was it first reported somewhere ? And when was the first known sale? Keep in mind this was all before wide scale use of the internet in the late 90s. Back then you learned of these things in print form or by meeting people at shows.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
Maybe Bill Mullins recalls when collectors started talking about it - maybe as a rumor at first.

Nope, I don't. And I don't recall when I stopped doing the promo card listings, but I don't think I was aware of it being expensive at that time.

Bill D. was the pricing specialist by the end of 1997 and started his promo column in the Dec 1998/Jan 1999 issue

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
Maybe Bill Mullins recalls when collectors started talking about it - maybe as a rumor at first.

Nope, I don't. And I don't recall when I stopped doing the promo card listings, but I don't think I was aware of it being expensive at that time.