Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a young Luke Skywalker spent his days collecting Bored Ape NFTs before being whisked away on an interstellar adventure – by which point he became too busy mastering the force and blowing up planet-sized space ships to continue his collection.
Today, in our galaxy, NFTs have been the subject of much debate and many people are still insistent that they are well worth an investment, particularly for those with the patience to see what the future holds.
But, what are NFTs? And are Star Wars NFTs in particular worth collecting? In this article, we’re going to tell you everything you need to know. We’re also going to look at some of the most valuable Star Wars collectibles and figures – because if history has taught us anything, it’s that all things Star Wars related appreciates in value, significantly!
Strap into your X-Wings and prepare for lift-off – ‘cause it’s about to get weird.
What on earth is an NFT?!
To the uninitiated, the whole concept of an NFT sounds like something out of a Science Fiction franchise. Kinda like trying to explain the concept of waxing your bikini line to a Wookie. But, as far-fetched as it might seem, we’re going to break it down for you, in a way that doesn’t sound all that crazy at all!
So, what on earth is an NFT?
NFT stands for “non-fungible token”, meaning ‘unique and non-replicable’. In other words, it’s a unique digital code that represents a digital item in one form or another – chiefly a piece of digital artwork (though NFTs come in many different formats).
NFTs are secured and stored on what is called a public blockchain and one token is not interchangeable for another – and thus cannot be further divided.
By this point, some of you might feel a little lost, but here’s a great example to help you understand it better…
The coin collector:
If you had a collection of one hundred £1.00 coins, you’d have one hundred “fungible” tokens. Each coin is worth the exact amount, can be interchanged, and are by no means “unique.”
Now imagine that you have one hundred coins of varying currency, from all over the world, minted at different points throughout history, all of which are unique. They would be “non-fungible” tokens. There’s no way that they could be valued the same or exchanged interchangeably without any complication – because they are so vastly different.
An NFT is like one of those coins from the second collection, only it is unique! There isn’t a single other coin on earth quite like it – and it exists purely in a digital format.
Hopefully, that has made the concept of an NFT easier to grasp. Later in the article, we will go into greater depth, but before we do: is it worth collecting Star Wars NFTs?
Are Star Wars NFTs worth collecting?
Now that you have a basic understanding of what an NFT is, are Star Wars NFTs worth collecting? This is a complicated question and the short answer is: that it’s entirely up to you.
The fact is, NFTs could well be another fad doomed for failure or they could indeed end up becoming widely successful in the future. It’s at your own risk.
For some reference, many people insisted that Bitcoin was a fad and that it would amount to nothing. And while Bitcoin’s future is uncertain, you cannot deny the following statement to be true:
If you invested $100 USD in Bitcoin in the beginning (roughly 1,000 Bitcoin), your collection would have been worth more than $ 48 million at its peak.
In other words, there are a number of people out there who took the risk and—years later—became multi-millionaires.
There’s no telling as to whether or not Star Wars NFTs will be able to fetch quite the same value – particularly given the volatility of the crypto market – however, if you have some spare cash that you’d like to invest, it could well be worth a roll of the dice!
Just be careful not to invest too much of your money unless you can afford it. NFTs are NOT a sure thing and if you cannot afford to lose your money, then it’s not worth the risk. However, if you do have some spare cash and you’d like to experiment and hope that you can get lucky with a sure investment like the original Bitcoin investors, then we say go for it!
Again, if history has taught us anything about Star Wars merchandise, it’s that it appreciates in value significantly! You’d be amazed by how much money rare Star Wars collectibles can fetch at auction today!
What are the most valuable Star Wars collectibles?
The most valuable Star Wars collectibles tend to be action figures, however, there are many other “collectibles” that have fetched a hefty price tag at auction, including many items from the original set, such as George Lucas’ Episode IV Panavision Camera (to the tune of $625,000). Here’s a look at some of the other crazy-valuable Star Wars collectibles:
- Miniature Episode IV TIE fighter ($402,400)
- Episode V Snowtrooper helmet ($276,750)
- Luke Skywalker’s Episode IV Lightsaber ($240,000)
- Chewbacca film-ready head ($172,200)
- Jawa figure with a vinyl cape ($16,500)
Who’d have thought at the time that such items would be worth such incredible amounts years later?
What are the rarest Star Wars figures?
As is expected, the rarest Star Wars figures tend to be the most valuable. If you are thinking about starting a collection of your own, the following figures may give you that extra boost of inspiration required:
- Kenner Star Wars Boba Fett prototype ($236,000)
- Bottom Line: Obi-Wan Kenobi With Double-Telescoping Lightsaber ($76,000)
- Brazilian Glasslite Vlix Figure ($45,000)
- Darth Vader With Telescoping Lightsaber ($30,000)
- Walrus Man – Bib Fortuna ($28,556)
How do you get started with NFTs?
Whether you’re thinking about dabbling with NFTs and buying some for yourself or you are interested in planning and coding a collection of your own, you’ll need the following two things to get started:
- A Crypto Wallet (such as MetaMask)
- And some Ether (which is the “currency” necessary to purchase NFTs).
Following that, you’ll need to identify the best NFT marketplaces to start browsing! Here’s a list of the top 10 recommendations for 2022:
- OpenSea
- Axie Marketplace
- CryptoPunks
- NBA Top Shot
- Rarible
- SuperRare
- Alcor
- Binance NFT Marketplace
- Foundation
- Crypto.com
Where is the best place to buy Star Wars NFTs?
If you are looking to buy the official Star Wars NFTs from Disney, you’ll need to use the Veve App. However, if you are interested in exploring unofficial Star Wars NFTs from fan artists, then you’ll likely be able to find some wonderful pieces in any of the NFT marketplaces mentioned above.
Just be sure to take your time and do plenty of research. There are many NFT websites and forums where fans and enthusiasts debate and discuss various NFT collections so you should definitely join the discussion and see if you can find any rare collections that might be worth a gamble!
Cover both bases and take your physical Star Wars collection online!
You can find some great Star Wars merchandise at Official Geek Merch to begin your collection, but why not cover both bases and give some Star Wars NFTs a go?
Sure, you may end up investing your money into NFTs and find that they aren’t worth quite as much as Bitcoin was at its peak, however, if you don’t try you’ll never know, right?
If you’d rather not kick yourself for missing an opportunity, we would recommend exploring Star Wars NFTs further – but ONLY if you can afford to do so. Again, this should be a speculative investment. If you do so under the assumption that it likely won’t amount to anything, you can’t be disappointed! However, if on the off-chance that NFTs blow up quite as successfully as Bitcoin did – particularly with a franchise as popular and consistently valuable as Star Wars – then you might just be in for an incredibly valuable surprise!
Conclusion
We really cannot stress to you enough how risky investing in something like NFTs (and crypto in general) is. Such markets are volatile and much like playing the Stock Market, you must do so at your own risk.
Star Wars NFTs are not a guaranteed way to make a return on your investment, but if you can afford to dip your toe in, it is definitely worth a try!
In any case, we wish you all the best. Good luck and may the force be with you.