To Grade or Not to Grade?

I'm not a fan of grading prototypes unless it's something very rare like Flocked Chewbacca or Grey Vader, etc. It can also makes sense, like Don said, to get special casing for hard to display pieces, but I don't think a grade is necessary in those instances. Much like David Quinn I'm frequently arranging and photographing different prototypes together. Creating Star Wars scenes with prototypes is fire and cases extinguish that fire. 😜🔥

Vintage makes sense especially if you decide to sell on Hakes as they only accept AFA graded pieces for authenticity purposes. I’ve never felt the need or urge to grade a modern piece though. I do like CAS for casing special pieces that are hard to display with the special casing. I guess it’s that simple in my mind. Cheers

I collect carded and loose figures from the Kenner line, and prototypes and preproduction pieces from the Hasbro lines. And while I like to grade all of the vintage production pieces, I have decided not to grade any prototypes.

I personally like to have my prototypes free from being sealed in acrylics, because I display and arrange them together, and photograph them with some frequency. I don't think collectors need to grade them, but I understand if they decide to send them to a company like AFA or CAS or UKG.

However, I believe AFA will not grade certain pieces. For the ones produced during the security tracking number era, I have heard AFA will not grade a piece without the original head (containing the tracking number). I do own some pieces that came from a Hasbro source that were never marked with a tracking number. And we've seen prototype photos released by Hasbro, most notably the one shown during the Celebration Chicago panel, in which the first shots did not have tracking numbers on their heads.

But I think AFA has taken a stance against grading figures that have had their heads replaced at the factory with unmarked ones. Whereas CAS' original approach was to case and grade a 6" Black Series figure and mark it as a prototype on the label, without any explanation as to what it truly is. The pieces are now marked as first shots, but the company should have a better grasp on what these pieces ultimately are, if they are going to accept them to be graded.

Grading started to occur circa 2005 / 2006 and was discussed for several pages at Behindthetoys which you can be accessed via Wayback and found here: BEHIND THE TOYS - How Can You Grade A Prototype? (archive.org)  Personally my view hasn't changed.  I really don't see the point in grading a prototype as the piece was never meant to make it out to the general public.

As far as authenticity.  Research is key.  I see some collectors utilize a COA as a security blanket due to the fact they don't research the creation process and have no idea what they are looking at.  They are just obtaining the piece because it's an interesting item to have, and other collectors are doing it.  COA's are not worth the paper they are printed on, and only state to the best of the signer of the COA's knowledge, their opinion on the piece.  It's always in the best interest to ask questions and obtain opinions on a piece if there's questions, but getting a prototype graded just to be encased to be displayed nicely seems like a waste of funds that can be utilized towards another prototype purchase.😁

Robert

It depends on the reason why I suppose.

I don't actually think it’s a wise decision to grade prototypes through a professional grader moneywise or for authentication. I suppose if you have one that you believe is in pristine condition, perhaps it’s a good choice investment wise.... which underscores the main point for grading: generally speaking, grade a figure to more clearly determine its condition of packaging and figure.

For authentication to me it’s not worth it. AFA and other graders have authenticated questionable figures in the past actually. I saw for instance a POTF2 Luke Farmboy SS/LT authenticated by AFA once that had a wildly off datestamp compared against other real examples, and to the naked eye, the bubble in this instance looked suspicious like perhaps it could have been a reseal.

In other words AFA or other graders are not always the best authority for authenticating every toy.

Investment wise I haven’t seen graded prototypes yield a greater return on investment... Sometimes I think a prototype figure will actually sell for less once graded because it has like a 70 grade or something.

If a person has an epic prototype figure, collectors who love the proto will be ready to spend the most more so because of things like provenance and details surrounding the figure like it’s datestamp (or lack thereof) or its paint scheme which obviously matches other prototype examples. Collectors will know it’s authentic for other reasons than AFA saying it is and because they know it’s real for those other reasons will fork out the dough

There are certain rare variants where I do actually think AFA or other authentication parties will really benefit a figures value, and lend to the credibility of that particular variant, but for prototypes I just don’t see that being the case.

As in any case there will be exceptions to some of the rules I go by in this comment but in general I think these rules are a good guide.

If you have ungraded POTF2 prototypes please send them my way - I’m ready to take them off your hands!