Understanding Official Pix Shields & Stickers

Author and Editor’s Note: This topic was discussed at length during a video chat in the SWAU Facebook group during our Open Mic feature this week. This post acts to preserve that discussion for access and reference of any Star Wars autograph collector, and has been adapted for website publication.

For over a decade, Official Pix was the Star Wars licensee for images and autographs. Images produced by them and signed in their presence were normally marked with a holographic shield featuring an image of an upraised light saber and the phrase "Officially Licensed Star Wars Autograph."

 These licensed photos with licensed autographs, or Saber Shields, are the premium Official Pix items, they will usually feature a white border around the image with proper copyright info in that border. These are the highly sought after, higher premium pieces.

These licensed items were only produced until OPix declined to renew the Star Wars license in 2015, prior to The Force Awakens. This happened once Disney was the new owner of the Lucasfilm company.

Since that time Official Pix has continued doing signings with celebrities from all walks of the entertainment world. These private signings and shows, are where they provide send in services and witness these unlicensed (possibly celebrity provided photos) and other items of your choosing, being signed for you.. These items have received Hologram shields once again,  but now with a star as the main design Official Pix . Com at the top and Authentic Autograph just above the star. This new shield design was only used when Official Pix witnessed the signature, and is usually called Star Shields.

These Star shields are there to let you know that OPix witnessed the signing and that the autograph is authentic. No one disputes the authenticity when they see these holograms, they are used on images from all entertainment fields. It should be noted that these same Star Shields are now used on Star Wars material, keeping in mind that they are not licensed Star Wars photos and they are not officially licensed Star Wars autographs.

Many collectors and members of the SWAU Facebook group have heard me and other moderators in SWAU speak highly of the quality of the Official Pix Shielded Licensed Autographs, as well as the quality of the photographs they come on.  A distinction has to be made between the two types of Shields.  Plain and simple, one is a sought-after, fully licensed, premium piece (the Saber Shield). The other is a sticker verifying that the signature was witnessed by this company (Star Shields).

A question was recently asked about items that are signed on licensed Topps Star Wars photos that feature an Official Pix Shield. Did they have a premium attached ?  In my experience, no premium has been seen on any of these items when compared to Star Wars Authentics witness stickers, or any other witness sticker (such as Beckett).

A handful of these "Star Shield" Fishers (not on Official Pix licensed photos) recently came to market and they came out at the price point of $500. This is the average price for a nice 8x10 signed by Fisher, and they sold out. There is nothing at all wrong with picking up different cool shots of Princess Leia signed by Carrie Fisher.

Sadly within an hour of them selling out, people who didn't even have these items in hand yet (they were not shipping for another week) were sending private messages to new collectors and trying to flip them at higher and higher prices in our SWAU Sales Group and elsewhere.

This launched 1001 questions ranging from when were they signed, where have they been, when were they stickered?  Etc Etc Etc. Enquiring minds want to know....If you made a purchase, you may already know. If not, don't worry about it. 

I spoke with the seller and went through much of this. I believe the price he sold at was fair, with or without Shields. The whens and wheres don't really matter. The images I have seen are fairly priced and authentic. For our purposes, that is what matters.

Clarification and education is what this group was founded on, making the hobby safe for everyone. Moderators of SWAU, myself included, have sung the praises of Official Pix, the quality of their photos and licensed autographs, as well as top notch customer service. For clarification sake we are speaking about the aforementioned Licensed items or the Saber Shields, (if you want to call them that, we do.)

We will not be allowing these standard witnessed stickers to be sold at any crazy premium in our Sales Group. They are what they are, authentic signed photos of Carrie Fisher, and they are no more or less valuable than any other authentic Fisher.

If you are new to this hobby, or if you just aren't sure about a particular item or sticker, or if someone reaches out to you privately.....please ask a moderator. Don't fall victim to not understanding the differences.

These circular holograms found on every licensed Official Pix photograph only tell us that the photo was official and sold by Official Pix as a blank unsigned image. Plenty of these have been used to get in person autographs at shows, send ins and even in the streets as collectors chase after the celebrities.

The last stickers from Official Pix that we should cover are the numbered Oval or Square stickers that may be located on the back of high value items and items sent to Official Pix for signings they offer.

We hope that these samples and explanations will help you understand what you may have and what you may want to purchase. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us, here or on Facebook.