The first Darth Vader card, from the first Star Wars set, and the vintage non-sport card of 2026. In May a PSA 10, one of five, sold at Heritage for $206,250, and the market for every grade below it woke up: a PSA 8 was $451 last November, $545 in May, $1,325 in July and $3,375 in the last four weeks; a PSA 7 went $403 to $2,162, a PSA 6 $156 to $875. PSA has graded 1,720: 5 tens, 67 nines and everything else a 6, 7 or 8, because 1977 cardboard came out of the pack with soft corners. This is a card whose whole ladder moved six-fold in a summer, on real volume, with the top rung set by one auction. Every price here is new.
Every grade this card trades at, most expensive at the top. Grades 3 to 8 priced on Aug 26 to Sep 20, 2026; the 9 and 10 are the Heritage sales of May 5, 2026, because they do not sell any other way.
Our numbers are filled in. Change any of them to match your card and your costs.
Flat at $220 to $425 for a year, then $496 in May, $725 in June, $1,776 in August, $3,455 in September on the guide; the dots are the eBay monthly averages. The 7 went $50 to $715 on the same curve. The PSA 10 is not charted: one sale at $206,250 would make the chart a straight line.
$51K changed hands across 45 sales at $250 and up in four weeks, Aug 26 to Sep 20, 2026, before the May Heritage sales.
Holding a raw copy? Grade it if the corners are square under a loupe. A 6 is $875, a 7 is $2,162, an 8 is $3,375, and any of those is worth the fee on a card that sells for $346 raw; a soft-cornered copy is a 4 at $350, which still clears. Holding an 8? Hold. The 9 has not repriced yet and the 8s are being bought by people who will pay for the next grade up; sell only into a Heritage or Fanatics auction if you must. Holding a 9 or 10? Heritage, and nowhere else. Buying? A 7 at $1,700 to $2,300 is the value grade; an 8 at $2,300 to $3,500 by bidding. Read the title: card #7, Series 1, not the sticker, not #196.