WGSH: New Discovery! Rare Packaging Variant!

[bondtoddbond]

What would be the chances of doing a supplement to the book. It could be done on a digital press with like 8-16 pages of additional information and sold more like a magazine price?

[The Toyroom]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but have I been sitting on something unique?
It's a Kresge card, somebody ripped off the price tag.

http://www.odeontoys.com/aquamank.jpg

Hah! Awesome!

[cjefferys]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but have I been sitting on something unique?
It's a Kresge card, somebody ripped off the price tag.

http://www.odeontoys.com/aquamank.jpg

I'm far from an expert on the carded stuff, but if I'm understanding Ben (and his book) correctly, Aquaman on the first version Kresge card was known to exist, but this auction is the first "reorder" carded Aquaman to show up. And I think the only difference between the two cards is the number code on the price label? (existing Kresge Aquamans only had the 4-01-26 code, until this one showed up with 4-01-30 instead) If that's true, I guess we would never really know which version yours is, Brian, with the price label missing.

[imp]

Aquaman on the first version Kresge card was known to exist, but this auction is the first "reorder" carded Aquaman to show up. And I think the only difference between the two cards is the number code on the price label?

Yes, that is the distinction.

I guess we would never really know which version yours is, Brian, with the price label missing.

Yeah, I think Brian has touched on the inherent absurdity of Collectors and Collecting: We obsess over minute details. In the case of this particular packaging variant, however, we are talking about a significant item.

SO HOW RARE IS IT?

Off the top of my head, I can think of about fifteen different MOC examples of the original Kresge Aquaman card, but until yesterday I had never seen a single one of this "Kresge Reorder" variation.

Additionally, we might consider just how many units of this variant could possibly even exist. We are talking about a specific reorder (i.e. a single Purchase Order) from one retailer (Kresge/Kmart) for the most short-packin'-est character of the 1st Wave (Aquaman).

CONSIDER THIS:

It is feasible the entire Kresge reorder was 1,200 pieces (100 dozen). At the time – 1973 – Aquaman figures accounted for just two of every 2-dozen case (or 8%). Those numbers suggest Mego produced exactly 100 units of this particular variant.

100! Total! You can't get much more rare than that. Even if you DOUBLE Kresge's order to 2,400 pieces (Kresge and Kmart operated a few hundred stores in 1973, so one can't argue the order could have been much larger than that), you're still talking about a figure of which only 200 examples ever existed in the first place.

In my estimation, this must be the rarest ('rare' meaning very few to begin with) and scarcest ('scarce' meaning how many examples exist today) Mego WGSH variation EVER PRODUCED. And I think any collector would agree: That is just plain cool.

-b

[rchatlin]

I'm lovin' this!

Rumors becoming confirmed discoveries on a single picture.

r
o
b

[ScottA]

I love this kind of stuff.