UPDATED DESCRIPTION FROM THE CATALOG. THE ORIGINAL FRONT AND BACK STEEL DIES HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE LOT.
Aside from a variety of interesting characters being introduced in toy form, one of the most unique features of Kenner's Power Of The Force (POTF) toyline was that each action figure was carded alongside a matching "Collector Coin," a stamped aluminum coin, bearing a portrait and text related to each respective character.
This lot consists of 10 pieces and comprises nearly all stages of production of Kenner's POTF coin for Romba the Ewok, one of the coveted "Last 17" figures produced by Kenner for the original line of Star Wars toys. Produced by World Wide Mint Inc., lot includes the original layout boards for the front (featuring original art) and back of the coin, the original 6-Up coin plaster sculpting for the front of the coin, as well as softcopy and both "Stage 1" hardcopy and "Stage 2" hardcopy, aka Tooling Master, which was used to produce the steel die that would strike the production coins. Lot also includes the Lucasfilm Ltd. sign-off approval sheet Kenner (with note to check likeness so as not to confuse Ewoks) and sheet bearing image of coin front design and inkstamp with handwritten names of sculptors Joe Yutz and Norman Nemeth in addition to 1984 released/received dates.
12-1/8x14" layout board has 8-3/8x8.5" coin layout stat applied at center, this in turn having approx.. 5.25x6" section of vellum at center bearing pencil original art for Romba coin design. "Romba" name and "Ewok" designation (plus Lucasfilm copyright) are pasted stats. Layout board has aged vellum sheet attached w/some pencil corrections/notations and all is covered by black paper overlay, which has Deskey Inc. label with handwritten "Romba Coin Front #017" notation. Attached original art has evenly aged and has small hole just above Romba's head and is VF/Exc. overall. 12-5/8x12.75" layout board has 7.75x7.75" coin layout stat applied at center, w/all text consisting of pasted stats. Top "Star Wars" logo matches the POTF release, but Kenner's regular "Star Wars" logo can be seen underneath. .5" snag at lower left, but main layout design remains Exc. Layout board has vellum sheet attached and all is covered by black paper overlay. Loose Deskey Inc. label with handwritten "Romba Coin Back #017" notation is included.
The art was used as a guide to produce the coin plaster sculpting, which was done as a positive image in 6:1 scale (six times larger than the production coin) measuring 10-3/8" in diameter. Most of these original sculpts were destroyed during the production process, with only approx. 20 coin sculpts across all the vintage Star Wars coin series remaining, including POTF, Droids and Ewoks toylines. "Romba" name has been written in pencil at upper right edge. Sculpt shows some scattered wear, with some scattered surface flaking along edges (not affecting coin design), the largest being .25" just above right centering line. Edges exhibit some green residue from production process, this being visible scattered along top rim edge. VF overall, but sculpt design still displays Exc.
This plaster sculpting would be used to create the "Stage 1" hardcopy, also in 6:1 scale with a negative image. Cast in a white epoxy resin, it was built-up with a green Dynacast backing. Stray pencil mark at upper right, but still Exc. overall. This "Stage 1" hardcopy would then in turn be used to create the softcopy or "rubber" made of flexible silicone, which again is in 6:1 scale but features a positive image. This softcopy has a thickness of approx. .5” and exhibits typical tiny air bubbles as poured. These do not affect front's display, which remains Exc. The final stage in the pre-production process utilized the softcopy to pull what is what’s known as the "Stage 2" hardcopy, or Tooling Master. Nearly identical to the "Stage 1" hardcopy as it also has a layer of white epoxy resin with a green Dynacast backing, but it generally had a slightly convex curvature to its edges. This Tooling Master was used to produce the steel die that would be used to strike the production coins packaged with the action figures. The front and back steel dies are included here as well.

This lot also includes an AFA 85 NM+ example of the production Power Of The Force coin to show the end result of these historic and extremely rare pieces of Star Wars coin history.