The 1977 Topps Star Wars #207 C-3PO error card is one of the most infamous error cards in the hobby, right up there with the 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken FF error. The green-bordered card from Topps’ fourth Star Wars series features C-3PO, played by Anthony Daniels, with a rather unfortunate-looking extra “appendage.”
Topps eventually corrected the card by airbrushing the offending area out of the photograph, creating two distinct versions of #207: the famous C-3PO error card and the later corrected (or airbrushed) version.
But how the error ended up on the card in the first place is where things get interesting.
How Did the C-3PO Error Card Happen?
For years, the official story had been that a piece of Anthony Daniels’ costume fell off as the picture was taken, but the rumor was always that a Topps artist snuck one in.
In 2007, the official site of Star Wars wrote, “It appears that the extra appendage is not the work of an artist, but rather a trick of timing and light. The untouched archive photo shows the image just as it appears on the card. The current theory is that at the exact instant the photo was snapped, a piece fell off the Threepio costume, and just happened to line up in such a way as to suggest a bawdy image. The original contact sheets from the photo-shoot attests to this. They are not retouched in any way, yet still contain the same image. Whatever the real explanation is, the ‘mischievous airbrush artist’ scenario simply doesn’t fit.”
Gary Gerani, in his book Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series: Volume One (2015), wrote that, apparently, someone on set strapped a long metallic appendage to the droid’s lower half. However, he said the team was releasing a new (unplanned) series of Star Wars cards as fast as possible (since the movie kept doing so well), no one noticed the gaff and the cards went out to the public in packs.
Despite Gerani’s explanation, in the fall of 2019, Anthony Daniels wrote about what happened in a little more detail. He said it was the oil bath’s fault. Daniels explained that the costume’s pants, at the time, were made of two pieces of thin plastic, front and back, that were attached with gold-colored tape. The oil dissolved the tape, and the pants came apart, leading to a bulging crease when he was lifted out of the bath. Daniels said Lucasfilm verified to him that an employee took the photo with the crease and accentuated it.
C-3PO Error vs. Corrected Card
Exactly which version Topps printed in smaller numbers is a little harder to pin down. PSA’s population report isn’t a reliable guide to the original print runs, since the much more valuable error card is worth grading in almost any condition while many lower-grade corrected copies probably aren’t.
Here’s how the PSA populations compared when I checked them in October 2024:
Regardless, you can see that over 1,800 error cards exist in the pop report, while the corrected version has a total population of under 800. However, the error is much tougher to find with good centering or PSA 9/10 worthy condition. Only 5 PSA 10s of the error exist, while the correct version has 12 10s despite the smaller overall population. And despite doubling the total population, the 10s haven’t changed in two years.
What Is the C-3PO Error Card Worth?
Despite Gerani’s belief that the airbrushed version should be more valuable, the error generates a significant premium over the corrected version because demand for the error card is through the roof.
Heritage sold the last PSA 10 “goldenrod” error for almost $42k in May 2026, and has the record for a corrected PSA 10 at $3,375 in May 2026, too. The last PSA 9 error sold for $5,377 in July 2026 (but around $600 in November 2020 before the hobby spike). The last corrected PSA 9 sold for $850 in January 2026. PSA 8 errors have sold as recently as June 2026 for just under $2,000 compared to just under $400 for the last corrected PSA 8 in June 2026.
Will Anthony Daniels Sign the C-3PO Error Card?
Also, Daniels won’t sign the error card; if you see one, it’s probably fake. PSA shows he has signed 26 regular cards and one error (a few years ago, it showed 9, so that’s weird) in its PSA/DNA population report. A few have been listed on eBay for ~$650.
Proofs, Uncut Sheets and Unopened Packs
Beyond conventional singles, there are a few more interesting collectibles related to the C-3PO error for the master collector.
First, in its Fall 2018 auction, Robert Edwards Auctions sold an unissued blank-backed proof for $540.
Next, you can find uncut sheets with the error card. The following example has been listed on eBay for a little under $10k, but I’ve seen more recent examples for closer to $3k.
And finally, if you want to pull a C-3PO card from a pack, here are the unopened items you will need to get your hands on.
Two 4th Series BBCE Authenticated wax boxes sold on eBay a few years ago, one for $1426 in June 2022 and the other for $1795 in July 2022. REA sold eight boxes between the fall of 2021 and the spring of 2023, mostly for around $1,680.
PSA-graded wax packs are pretty common, as they have graded 400 of them (as of October 2024). The last PSA 7 pack sold for $63 in May 2024, while the last PSA 8 graded pack sold for $92.
Since the 330-card 1977 Topps Star Wars set has become much more popular in recent years as the hobby has boomed and as Disney has released new Star Wars movies and shows, the C-3PO error has grown (so to speak) even more popular and expensive, too. While we may not ever know, with 100% certainty, how the C-3PO error card came to be, it’s a card that might bring you a little chuckle. And if you’re a big Star Wars fan, boxes, packs, and uncut sheets make solid additions to a master collection. Happy collecting!
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