The Top 10 Most Valuable Star Wars Trading Cards

Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill, was the main protagonist of the franchise’s earliest films. Even though Skywalker was ranked 4th by Screen Rant of most popular Star Wars characters, he is undeniably one of the OG faces of the movies and ecosystem.

This 1977 card comes from the Topps Series 1 Star Wars set and is Skywalker’s first appearance in trading cards.

There are just 9 copies of the 1977 Star Wars Luke Skywalker #1 in a PSA 10 grade and one last sold for $6,877 in January 2020, before taking a massive jump in November 2021 with a $55,260 sale:

The card sold at a record low of $311 on July 9th, 2015, appreciating more than 17,668% in just 6 years.

Darth Vader is the main villain in the Star Wars universe and is a highly popular character. The Wonder Bread Star Wars set released in 1977 is viewed as an “alternative rookie” to these characters.

The cards were distributed with loaves of bread (1 per loaf) and while it seemed gimmicky at the time, some of these cards in mint condition sell for a significant amount of money.

This example sold for a record-high $8,000 in March 2021 and there are just 29 copies graded in a PSA 10.

A copy of this card sold for $431 in December 2020, appreciating 1,756% in just a few months.

One of the most dominant themes we see in any top 10 collectible list is that one character/athlete tends to hold multiple record sales. While other characters like Darth Vader and Princess Leia are popular Star Wars characters, Luke Skywalker seems to hold the most value with trading card collectors.

This 1977 Star Wars Topps Series 1 PSA 9 has 74 copies and hit a record high price of $7,699 in March 2021:

The card sold as low as $100 in 2013 making for a 7,598% appreciation in a little less than a decade.

There were multiple copies of this Wonder Bread Luke Skywalker 1977 Star Wars trading card that sold for multiple thousands of dollars, but at a $7,000 sale in March 2021, this is the record.

Wonder Bread distributed 1 of these trading cards per loaf of bread and what might have been a marketing tactic at first has now become a bonafide collectible in the Star Wars universe.

There are 66 copies of this card in a PSA 10 grade.

This 1977 Topps Series 1 Han Solo was last sold via eBay in February 2021 for $6,335.

Harrison Ford played Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and reprised his role for a short cameo in The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

There are just 10 copies of this card in a PSA 10 grade.

It previously sold for $350 in August 2017, appreciating 1,710% since that sale.

This 1977 Obi-Wan Kenobi card has just 15 copies in a PSA 10 and was last sold for $6,150 on 1/29/2021.

Obi-Wan is another OG character from the original Star Wars trilogy and his character shows up again (this time played by Ewan McGregor) in Star Wars Episodes 1 through 3.

There’s also an upcoming TV series about the character, called “Obi-Wan Kenobi” keeping the character relevant for collectors.

This card sold for $817 in 2019, representing a 652% increase in just 2 years.

After hitting a record high sale of $8,000 in March 2021, two PSA 10 copies of this card sold in April for $4,780 and $5,800 (only the latter made the list to avoid redundancy).

Despite this dip in price, the card was still up significantly in value from its last sale in 2020 ($685).

The Darth Vader Wonder Bread card is one of the scarcest as a PSA 10 in the Wonder Bread set.

Perhaps one of the most awkward cards to ever grace our top 10 lists, this C-3PO error card (just 5 copies in a PSA 10) comes in at spot number 8 with the last sale of $4,999 on May 11th, 2020:

Surprisingly, the card has held value over the last few years, with the lowest recorded sale of just under $3,000.

If you haven’t spotted the error yet, scroll back up and have another look. There’s an added golden rod in the card that wasn’t supposed to be there.

The cards were recalled but not before enough hit the market, making this a scarce collectible, especially for those with a sense of humor.

This 1977 Princess Leia Organa card was last sold in February 2021 for $4,850.

She was the second main protagonist in the Star Wars film and a major anchor in the universe's plotline.

Carrie Fisher played the iconic character but passed away before completing filming for The Rise of Skywalker. Her character still appeared in the 2019 movie with some help from visual effects.

The cameos in the modern movies paired with an expanding trading card market likely fueled some of these 2021 sales of this set, which is often accepted as the “rookie cards” for the characters.

The card sold for just $173 on 9/2/2018, appreciating over 2,703% in less than 3 years.

There are just 20 copies of this 1977 Wonder Bread Star Wars Grand Moff Tarkin trading cards and a copy sold on April 2021 for $3,725.

Grand Moff Tarkin played a villain role in the original movie trilogy and was described as “one of the most formidable villains” in the Star Wars universe.

This character may not be an obvious one to the average fan, but you can’t deny this record sale for one of his cards.