Newly Uncovered Japanese Star Wars Cards -1980 Cosmos

The Japanese card market continues to be unvalued and a goldmine of cards waiting to uncovered.  One of the genres of cards were marketed in Gacha, or capsule machines, with one of the most famous companies, Cosmos (コスモス), producing a majority of these cards in the early 1980s.  There were numerous cards for all interests: Pro Wrestling, Movies, Idols, and Sports Stars.  Since these were marketed really as inexpensive toys or products, the quality of the material and card stock tends to be fairly poor and consequently few survive and they are hard to locate.  Adding to the mix the lack of any definitive checklist and you have a recipe for excitement, intrigue, and a thrilling chase of discovery.  This small, three-card set from the 1980 The Empire Strikes Back movie definitely didn't disappoint and I was happy to be able to uncover and document them.  Measuring 2 3/8"x 3 5/8", this beautiful red-bordered set depicts the three main characters from the movie: Lord Darth Vadar (sp), Luke Skywalker, and Yoda.  If you were casually glancing at the cards, you might gloss right over the コスモス logo in the upper-right corner as it is difficult to tell that it is written in Japanese.  Also, the only card that has distinct Japanese writing is the Darth Vadar (sp) which has スターウォーズ written in bold-red letter in the lower-left corner.  Beautifully cropped, this set is a must have for the advanced Star Wars card collector.