The missing board (missing because it did not have "Topps" in the title description on Ebay and I couldn't find it again until a helpful reader pointed me in the right direction) again being auctioned by BMW Sportscards actually was for a packaging concept for the sequel to everybody's favorite space western. The Empire Strikes Back was also a massive success at the box office and on the candy store shelves.
As you can see, Topps was using 4th series Star Wars cards for their internal presentation, with some TESF elements involved plus a marketing prototype:
I'm not sure if the collector's file ever came to fruition as my mind starts glazing over once we get into late 70's Topps products but it sure is a colorful presentation. I wonder if the lack of a large, red penciled title for the board is indicative of it coming from somewhere other than the art department at Duryea. It's also different from the earlier boards shown here as the back is black:
Kinda reminds me of deep space, or a Spinal Tap album......
Dave,
ReplyDeleteThere was a collectors' file box included with some early releases of ESB Series 1 product. Though 30 years' worth of intervening time has made things a little hazy, my first purchase of those cards was something like a cello/rack pack and a little red box with Darth Vader's image (like the one on the Series 1 checklist card) was included with it. I think the box only held maybe 50 cards. I remember thinking it was useless to have a box that couldn't hold the complete series.