Silver Rancor Ring (The Galaxy Collection from JAP Inc.)

This is one in a series of Star Wars-inspiried sterling silver rings made in the late 1990s by the unfortunately named JAP Inc. (JAP工房 in Japanese). They make a variety of silver jewelry based on pop culture properties such as Alien, The Nightmare Before Christmas, as well as some Japanese properties, but their Star Wars license ended some time ago. These were not cheap rings, originally retailing for well over $200 (converted from yen). They haven’t held their value very well, though. This seems particularly true for the most popular characters like Vader, C-3PO, and Boba Fett because many cheap Chinese copies of these rings have shown up, devaluing the originals. The lesser characters like the Rancor were never copied, though, so they’re still somewhat sought after.

They made quite a large range of characters. The Jabba-related ones include Jabba, Bib Fortuna, Gamorrean Guard, and the Rancor. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a complete list of these, so there may be even more. I’m not sure if these ever got wide distribution outside of Japan, but they’re certainly on the rare side here in the US. I did manage to track down a Jabba ring on a Japanese auction site, though.

These are very large rings, and it takes a certain type of person to be able to pull off wearing one. I am not that type of person. But I can appreciate the excellent sculpting and craftsmanship that went into making them.