Star Wars VHS Tape Expected To Sell for $60K in Auction

By Nicole Drum

A vintage, unopened VHS copy of Star Wars is going up for auction and is expected to pull in a staggering $60,000. According to TMZ, the tape is a 1984 first release of Star Wars IV: A New Hope that has been rated NM 8.0/B by VHSDNA. The copy includes a "Gray Tape-Head", a "First Edition Stereo Only" red label, a "1984 Sleeve" and "First Edition CBS/Fox Watermarks." The tape is being auctioned by Goldin and the auction is set to end on Wednesday, February 23rd.

The tape is an interesting one. When Star Wars was released on VHS in 1984, it was the first time people could watch the film, which originally debuted in theaters in 1977, at home.  This particular edition has also previously been sold at auction. Its previous sale brought in $57,600.

The 1984 Star Wars VHS isn't the only interesting VHS currently up for auction. There's also a sealed copy of the Star Wars 10-Year Original Trilogy Set that's expected to go between $10,000 and $20,000. There are also two other copies of the 1984 Star Wars VHS up for auction as well. It's not clear what the estimated auction projection is for those copies, though it's likely that they will be similar in value.

While that kind of money for a VHS may seem a bit extreme, especially considering that VHS tapes are considered largely obsolete technology, it's not unusual for nostalgia items related to major franchises and IP to prove to be very valuable among collectors. A prime example of this is the Harry Potter universe. A first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, recently sold for $471,000 at auction in Dallas, TX last December.  other books sold at auction at that time included a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy which went for $103,125, and all seven books in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, which sold for $100,000.

What do you think about the vintage Star Wars VHS currently up for auction? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section!

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