[Exhibitman]

A few things re the Star Wars card. I would never (could never) pay that kind of money for that card, but I can understand why someone with extreme wealth would.

1. I've been putting together a high grade raw set of 1977 Star Wars first series for a few years. I'm still a few short. The #1 card is a true condition rarity. The card was on the edge of the sheet. Besides the full bleed blue borders that are prone to both corner wear and print boogers, and the usual Topps "I don't give a s**t" overall quality control, the border placement effectively means that the card is off-center L-R 95% of the time. There is a big premium on any centered #1, even in a 7 or 8 slab. It is so bad that one of the few markedly o/c cards in my set is the #1 because I won't ante up into three figures just for better centering.

2. The first series is one of the most iconic NS sets of the latter half of the 20th century. Star Wars was such a phenomenon in 1977, if you weren't there, you cannot really comprehend it. Star Wars literally was that summer; as close to a monoculture as anything ever was. I saw it multiple times, as did my friends, and we struggled to even get into the theater for the first month or so. The collectibles were everywhere; it was the first truly epic merch effort for a film. It had so much cultural staying power that the sequel was mobbed, too; us 12-year olds in 1977 were 15 in 1980 and stil went crazy for Empire. I camped out with friends at the Avco in Westwood to eventually see Empire on the first day of release, late in the afternoon. I would probably have done the same with Jedi but I got to see it in a special members screening via my father's job, at the Academy's theater in Beverly Hills. That was so much fun. At one point I looked behind me and who was sitting there? Shaft. Damn straight. Richard Roundtree. I digress to name drop...my point is that for an entire cohort of Gen X kids (who are now middle aged men with money) Star Wars was the cultural touchstone of their tween/teen lives and for the card collectors of my generation, it was the 1977 Topps cards.

3. The 1977 set series 1 is the seminal set for collectors of Star Wars cards who weren't there in 1977 but who are still ardent fans. The franchise has been carefully grown ever since, Jar Jar Binks notwithstanding. Films, TV, now a Disney 'land'. It has genuine cultural cross-appeal and staying power.

I happen to be a hardcore Star Trek (TOS) collector/fan rather than a Star Wars collector/fan but I totally get it.