Unusual ESB Glasses

[darthskellington]

Most of you are probably familiar with the Burger King glasses that were a promotion for each of the classic movies. Four glasses for each movie. They were made of glass, with the exception of plastic ROTJ glasses available in Massachusetts due to some safety regulation.

This past year I purchased a C-3PO Burger King ESB glass off of eBay. This glass is differently shaped than all the other ESB glasses I have encountered.

ESB glasses normally are taller than the SW and ROTJ glasses, and are tapered, or are smaller at the top than the bottom. This particular glass is shaped similarly (but not identical) to the SW and ROTJ glasses: consistently straight or cylindrical from top to bottom, with a large pedestal-like lip on the bottom. As I recall, the silk-screened image is shaped slightly differently so that it appropriately fits this shape of glass.

You can see in the picture a normal Luke glass, next to a picture of the offending Droids glass.

Has anyone else ever encountered this? It's not in Tomart's, and I don't recall ever seeing others like this.

 

[bedlam412]

I have not only seen one, .... I own one .... Mine is also a droids glass and has that same funky base detail as yours .... I can't for the life of me remember where I picked it up though .... yours appears to be in much better condition than mine from your pic.

Until today, I thought I had the only one ... I thought maybe it was a good fake and unique ... the reason I suspect it is a forgery, is that instead of the normal clean looking paint detail on the glass, mine has a haze around the images on front and back that is uniform and rectangular in shape ... Does yours also have this quality to it?

I'd post a pic with this, but the glass is packed away and it would take some doing to find it

 

[CoruscantCosta]

You should try sending those to Steve Sansweet...he could answer your questions....

 

[darthskellington]

You beat me to the post, CC I have already e-mailed Mr. Sansweet, this past week via his Star Wars Insider address. I'll be watching upcoming issues for a possible answer. He's answered some of my queries in print before.

Bedlam, nice to see someone else has run across this. To answer your question, my glass also has a rectangular "shape" around the image. I think yours has become more hazy with wear, since you say mine looks better.

I'm no expert, but someone once explained to me how silk-screening an image is done. Basically, the image is printed onto the glass, one color layer at a time. That's why the normal glasses look multi-colored from the inside. Our unusual glasses look almost solid white from the inside, and the printed (silkscreened?) image is very thin. The haze around the image is part of it, like the clear part of a sticker.

Anyway, I guess my point was that the silkscreened image on the droids glasses is a much cheaper process than on normal ones. Maybe whatever manufacturer made the glasses ran out of the right type of glass, and had to improvise for a new shape of glass?

Thanks for your input Bedlam, and Coruscant Costa. Maybe someone else can shed more light.

For what it's worth, I think the dealer I bought the glass from was located in the northeast US, maybe Ohio or New York.

Almost forgot, my image has some scratches on it, that go clear through the image. I've never seen that on a regular glass. Just an illustration of the image quality.

 

[CoruscantCosta]

I dont have anything special to send to mr. sansweet except my error Jango Fett, which i have found to be worthless. Maybe I will try sending it to him though.

 

[darthskellington]

Your welcome to send you question, but I'll give a prediction of what the standard answer for that is:

Errors are an interesting collectible, that are usually available in smaller numbers, if not in fact unique. However, errors are just that, errors. As such, they are worth whatever you paid for it, if not less. Some people specifically collect errors, so it is also worth whatever someone will buy it for. As such, it's value is intrinsic in that it is a unique part of your collection.

That's the long answer. The frustrating thing about errors is that there may be only 1000, or 100, or 1 of that particular error in existence. It truly is a limited edition, but it's also just a screwed up normal figure.

I have a Commtech Stormtrooper that has a secton of the black body suit that wasn't painted--just left white. I didn't even notice it until after I opened the figure. I have a lot of fun trying to pick it out from my 35 other Commtech and Fan Club Stormtroopers, whenever I have them all out.

 

[r2dee2]

I never noticed the difference in the bases of the ESB and the SWANH/ROJ glasses Interesting.

I looked on ebay and found most of the ESB glasses were the "correct" slimline glasses, but I did find one that seems to have the indented base ebay

I only saw this discrepancy on the C-3P0 glass. You'd think that if it was a "bootleg" it would be found on the whole series. Perhaps a "transition" glass?

Interesting

PS....I've looked at the picture in this auction a little closer and I think it actually is the slimeline glass....so- NEVERMIND!

 

[Mittbretturuodo]

I bought a set off eBay and when they arrived 3 of the 4 were shaped just like what you mentioned. They also had the haze around the pic, and mine were scratched all to hell. I figured these for a bootleg and thanked the lady who ripped me off.

Since then I have acquired the correct set.

 

[darthskellington]

Thanks for your help R2dee2 and Mittbretturuodo
(BTW, great name Mitt, but thank god for copy and paste )


It would appear that all four ESB glasses are probably available in this form then. One step closer to the bottom of this Star Wars mystery, gang.

Keep an eye out for more clues :eye: :eye:

 

[darthskellington]

It is very difficult to tell any difference in ebay photos. When I bought mine, I wasn't sure there was a difference until I saw it in person. R2, I agree that the one in the auction was a normal one. Particularly because of the vivid colors.

The backs aren't usually shown in auctions, but there is a obvious difference on the back of the glass. A normal glass has the text paragraph surrounded by a rounded-off white(?) outline with a SW radar motif at the top. The mystery glass I have has no radar motif, only the white rectangular outline.

In passing glance, the SW, ROTJ, and mystery ESB glasses all have the same basic shape. However, standing side by side, you can see that each series is a slightly different height and shape.

 

[darthskellington]

Wow.....almsot two years to the day...I have my answer. While at the C3 Sunday breakfast, I ran into none other than Steve Sansweet himself. he was making a point of going to all the tables and talking to everyone. After getting an autograph, i asked if I could hit him up with a collecting question after breakfast. He agreed.

I had conveniently brought along a photo of the glasses for just this purpose, and showed it to Mr. Sansweet. He immediately recognized the glasses, and confirmed that he had a set of both variations. The Story goes like this:

Sometime during the release of the ESB glasses, the supply ran out. More needed to be made on short notice, and unfortunately the same style glass was not available. Short story is these lesser quality glasses were teh replacement supply. They would have been available anywhere that reordered glasses at that particular time, and are thus not exclusive to any particular state (like the plastic ROTJ glasses). Question answered.

What I don't know is whether these were the final run of glasses, or if they were jsut a fill in and they made more regular glasses later. Either way, these are most likely more difficult to find, if not as nice looking as the regular glasses.

Thanks Steve