Here is another licensed reprint that is often sold as an original poster. Zig-Zag, a publisher and printer from Germany, has produced licensed reprints for some of the Star Wars posters. The reprints for US style posters are undersized, I believe 24×36 instead of 27×41. However, Zig-Zag reprinted the unique UK Trilogy 3-in-1 poster. The reprint is the exact same size as the originals, 27×40. The only differences are a slightly bluer color around the Return of the Jedi title and the Zig-Zag copywrite information written below the ROTJ title. You should be able to spot the tag-line with a decent picture.

Here is a picture of an original trilogy 3-in-1 poster. Notice that the area around the ROTJ logo is teal and there is nothing written under the ROTJ logo.

              (click on thumbnails for full-sized photos)

Here is a picture of the reprint. You can easily see that there is some writing below the ROTJ logo and that the color is much bluer.

Finally, here is a close-up picture of the copywrite information.

The French Grande Affiche is a large poster that measures around 47″ x 62″. Technically there are no bootlegs of the French Grande Affiche, however it was reprinted in the early 90’s. Many people are passing these off as original posters, so beware.

I own a rather beat up copy of this poster. You can find mint condition originals. The originals have nothing printed in either the bottom left or right corner. There is information about the printer on the bottom left side where the artwork starts. There is also nothing printed underneath the credits logo. The printer for the original poster is LaLande-Courbet.

Original: 

      (click on thumbnails for full-sized photos)             

Bottom left corner:

Printer information:

Bottom Right Corner:

The reprint was done by Sonis not LaLande-Courbet. Sonis did produce some original movie posters in the 70s and 80s. However, they were not the printer for original Star Wars posters. The Sonis reprint is well labeled and should show up very easily on an eBay auction page. The most glaring sign is the Sonis logo located on the bottom left corner. The Sonis printer info is located on the bottom right of the poster instead of the bottom left. Underneath the “Peter Cushing” in the credits is information about the Sonis copywrite.

Here is the poster. Notice the Sonis logo on the bottom left corner:

Here is a close-up of the Sonis logo:

Here is the printer information on the bottom right:

Here is the copywrite information:

Mexican lobby cards are fun and cheap collectibles. Unfortunately, bootlegs started to come to the market over the last few years.

Here is an authentic Mexican lobby card. Notice the Storm Troopers head extends into the border area of the card. The card is also pretty beat up. All original Mexican cards that I’ve seen have condition issues. This doesn’t bother me and I tend to stay away from mint looking cards because they may be bootlegs.

            (click on thumbnails for full-sized photos) 

The first bootleg is very obvious. The bootleg has a much bigger border around the entire image. The card also is mint and very white compared to the original. The artwork in the bootleg is also much smaller than the artwork in the original and the Storm Trooper head does not jut out into the border. The paper is also much rougher than an original, but you won’t notice that on a picture.

Now, there is another type of card that is currently being sold. I am not completely positive that these are fake, but my gut tells me they are. These bootlegs do not have a border on the card, which could mean they were trimmed at one point. The problem I have with this theory is that a quick search on eBay shows about 99% of all Mexican cards regardless of the movie has some sort of border. The artwork on the card is slightly smaller than the artwork on the known original. They seem to be in better condition with slightly more vibrant colors, and finally the cards are much whiter than the original. As a careful measure, I am staying away from these cards.

Here is a card without borders.

Notice the slight size difference of the artwork. The bootleg is on top.

Here you can notice the color differences. It’s easier to see from the back.

Like I mentioned before, I can’t be conclusive that the no border cards are bootlegs, but evidence seems to be against it. At this time I have not seen a bootleg Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi card.