Current 40th Prices - June 2014

Just watching an eBay auction for a 40th Astronaut set (boxed - just uniform, no figure) which so far has reached £82!

I notice too that fewer and fewer carded 40th sets are appearing on eBay, and some aren't showing up on searches at all.   I've noticed quite a few hit some high prices lately -as much as £150 for the Deep Sea Diver and £100-£125 for SOTC British Infantryman and SOTC Green Beret sets- and was wondering which sets were considered the rarest.

I suppose for many of these sets, the 40th reissues were the only realistic way for anyone to obtain a carded example of these sets, as originals are either non-existent or as rare as hen's teeth.  Now it appears that as the 40th supplies dwindle, these replica sets are now also in demand and finding a collectors' market.

From my observations I've estimated some of the rarest/highest priced are:

Deep Sea Diver
SOTC Green Beret
SOTC German
SOTC British
SOTC French
SOTC Russian
Newcastle United Footballer (never officially released)
Afrika Korps
Long Range Desert Group
Royal Marine Combat
Royal Marine Dress
Parachute Regiment
Armoured Car Commander
British MP
British Officer
7th Cavalry
Battle of Britain
Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders
Astronaut
Red Devil
Escape From Colditz
Mountaineer
Blue Parka
Green Parka
Judo

Also seemingly fetching high prices is this set...



Hardly surprising as it is that rare bird, an "original" 40th set.  The trousers, tunic and parachute were originally available on three separate cards in the original 1966 range, but never together like this.  Nor were they available like this in the GI Joe range.

So this is an Action Man collectible in its own right, 40th or not.

Another 40th "original" was the boxed Guard Dog, which never came in a box back in the '60s/'70s, just a plain brown package as a mail order offer on the star scheme.  Modellers Loft produced a beautiful photo package for their release of Brutus, thus creating another AM collectible and possibly a valuable one in the future.

   

Finally, for the 40th "originals", there was the Celtic Footballer in a custom made Celtic Sportsman box sold in very limited numbers and only through Celtic's souvenir shop.



Does anyone else have any sets to add to the above list of rarer 40th items?

What a great thread!. It is no surprise that these sets were eventually going to hit top money. after all, in hobby that can become expensive to collect vintage only. I say fair play to all the guys that saw the advantages to collecting 40th!

Be fab to know which set is the rarest

Without doubt it has to be the Newcastle United set as only a few of these leaked out to a couple of US suppliers before the release was cancelled and all existing stocks had to be destroyed.  

Alan Hall had to destroy all items with the words Newcastle United on them, which included the packaging, the badge and the jacket.  I remember at the time of the set's withdrawal I had a brainwave. I found that several football clubs in the UK had the initials NUFC and therefore the initials were not subject to copyright. I contacted Modellers Loft and suggested they could sell the jacket as Neasden United FC or Notown United FC or similar. They mailed me back saying that it was a great idea but just the night before they had burnt all of the jackets along with the packaging and badges.

Gutted!

I had a carded set which I was loathe to open for obvious reasons and i never dreamed that anyone out there who had got one would have opened theirs up, but lucky for me someone did, and this mint example turned up on eBay a while ago and I nabbed it, so I now have one for display.

What a cracking bit of luck picking one up off ebay A real gem to our collection

You're telling me I was lucky!

I can only assume someone decarded it without knowing that the set had been withdrawn from sale.