Chicago collector finds 300 figures in their closet
By Matthew Roth
Have you ever dreamed of hitting the lottery and just leaving it all behind? Well for one Chicago based toy collector this dream may have just became a reality. Being called the “Morphy find” there was recently a gold mine of over 300 Star Wars action figures found. The name derives from a meeting with the CEO of Morphy Auctions and discovering just what this collector had been sitting on.
While the collector primarily handles coin operated vending machines they had mentioned the collection to Tom Tolworthy, the CEO of Morphy Auctions at a recent show. After photos of the collection were sent Tom marveled at the condition these toys were still in and the fact these toys were discontinued in 1985. He then enlisted the help of Chuck Lang who is a senior IT expert to help catalogue the collection of toys.
The toys were produced by Kenner who was the first company to start the production of toys for the films. However, they were unprepared for the popularity of the first film and there was a mass shortage of toys in 1977 for Christmas. This left the company to sell boxes of early bird certificates in the meantime until production could catch up and they could fulfill the orders. Certain toys in the collection such as a rare Luke Skywalker Double Telescope Lightsaber one is estimated to be worth up to $20,000.
The collection is also to have found to have the original 21 action figures that were initially released and had been discontinued. Another includes a Death Commander toy that due to the word death within the name was deemed in appropriate. The auction is set to go live on February 1st and can be found here https://issuu.com/morphyauctions/docs/flip_doc_2023_febtoys
This once in a lifetime find is sure to make some collectors extremely happy. Will you be one of them?