Toronto, ON Oct 26th, 2022 - There are few things that excite collectors more than never before seen collectibles. ToyVerify, an authenticator and appraiser of toys, comics, comic art and a wide range of collectibles, was recently tasked to appraise a Hungarian released space toy originally produced by Schenk between 1985-1995. During the process of requesting photos from the submitter we made a remarkable discovery. This specimen was not only the first "Combat" version of this spaceship to be found with all its original contents in the cockpit, which includes an extra gun and helmet, but it’s the first version specimen to have remained unopened since the Hungarian-based company first produced them.
Upon making this early determination, we decided to employ a two-phase authentication prior to commencing an appraisal of the item. We wanted to verify the item we were seeing was the genuine article, and as rare as we thought. The authentication process took us through one of the most incredible historical journeys to date and ToyVerify is happy to announce it has completed the first phase of assessment. We managed to establish contact and converse with a family member of Károly Schenk.
It turned out this wasn't just a family member of the original Schenk owner, but someone who also worked at Schenk, right through to the time the company, its assets and production equipment were sold off when the toy company shuttered in 2006. It was during this discovery process that we uncovered rare Hungarian Schenk űrhajós show footage revealing the exact Y-Wing “Combat” spaceship the company had been producing.
"Schenk kozmosza" was intended to be marketed due to the widespread popularity and commercial success of the Star Wars films, but also as a vehicle offering to cleverly accommodate both it's Playmobil "másolatok" and the wave of Star Wars Hungarian bootleg figures circulating in the country. There were two versions - the Combat which used twin-cannons based on the same ones mounted on the Kenner Y-Wing, and the “Scout” version, which used domes instead, bearing a resemblance to our favourite astromech droid loaded into the ship. In addition, we also uncovered extremely helpful documentation describing everything from the construction of the toy, the reasons for its quirky colour choices, characteristics (i.e. Castrol GTX decal on the figures chest), and a knot-tie method used on packaging nets. In all, these details would serve to help confirm and validate that this was both an authentic and rare example.
This authentication is also the first time ToyVerify has ever assigned an R1 rating to any production toy, and this Soviet/Ogonek based ship with influences from Kenner, Playmobil and a whole host of others is certainly deserving of it. Remarkably, we learned that despite the company's attempt to produce and market this toy for a 10 year period, it did not enjoy the same commercial success as its Medieval Knights and Western figure and toy lines, and as such very few were made. While we estimate there to be other examples of this Hungarian Y-Wing in as many as three different packaging formats that may not yet have surfaced, and that totals would be in the double digits for examples in unopened packaging, with current and available information, this Y-Wing “Combat” specimen is believed to be a one of one example due to the build type, characteristics, and factors of completeness. ToyVerify’s R-value scale ranges from R1 to R5, where the numeric value 1 represents "Unique" and 5 represents "Uncommon." In this specific instance, the assigned R1 rating is based on estimated extant populations of this version specimen to be in the single digits.
We want to take a moment to thank the Schenk family source Stephen for not only being a tremendous help in the verification process, but for having done such an incredible job of being an archivist and curator to the Schenk company and its rich history for Hungarian toy-making.
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