UPDATE: Sold for US$500 (2 bidders).

Here’s an interesting item for the collector of vintage toys. It’s a 1979 Kenner ALIEN toy, attached to the insert card. It’s incomplete and up for auction right now with the seller starting bidding at US$399.99. Super cheap! But wait? What are you really bidding on, here?Firstly, there’s no box included in this listing. It just includes the figure and the the red insert card. Fortunately, this card is a genuine item and not a facsimile/fake/reproduction. These red, corrugated cards were present inside the blue box when Kenner originally released the ALIEN. It’s purpose was to provided safe and stable transportation of the toy during transit to stores in 1979 with the toy strapped directly onto the card, preventing it from moving about inside the box and potentially being damaged.

Of all the pieces that comprise the package, the insert card was one of the most frequently disposed of itemsand missing from the box; potentially on par with the figure’s  frty year old B&W poster inclusion. So, yes. They can command a healthy price. They don’t often appear loose on eBay, and when they do, they do sell well. Having one with a figure strapped to it without the box present is equally unusual. Nonetheless, there’s more to consider here and the value of this item is severely undermined by a couple of factors. Let’s investigate these factors.

Significantly, the insert card is in great shape – well, it’s a little worn here and there – but it’s still in good condition. Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s still a nice solid piece of card with some obvious wear and tear. What’s not so attractive is the figure itself has actually been previously removed from this card.

We can tell the toy has been removed because the lengths of cord holding the toy in place here are not Kenner’s original fastenings. Kenner released these toys with black laddered zip ties securing the figure onto the card. The absence of these ties, of which there should be one wound around each elbow and onto the card only, means the figure has been removed from the card and returned using these pieces of string. If the original zip ties had been in place, this would be a considerably more valuable item. Unfortunately, lacking these zip ties is a big factor here.

Another concern regarding this listing is the figure itself. It looks decent enough but the head carapace is not an original piece. This is a reproduction part and was not part of the figure in its original factory made state. Such reproduction parts present on the figure will diminish the value of one of these forty year old toys. This one is no different and like the replacement fastenings, this will remove quite a few dollars from the value of the sale.

The combination of fake securing method and a dome that is equally lacking in authenticity will devalue this listing a lot. A figure missing an original dome will sell for around US$250. Maybe more. Maybe less. An individual red insert card can sell for any amount – they just don’t appear often enough to provide any ball park figure – let’s say it’s worth US$50 to US$120. Taking these factors into consideration, we would be generous in saying this item is worth US$300. The seller wants another US$100 on top of that. Will this item sell for $399 – or more? We’ll have to wait and see. Bidding closes in 6 days. I’ll be very interested in seeing the outcome of this sale.

-Windebieste.