SERIES 19

Corinthian released ProStars Series 19 as part of the Christmas range, which also included 12 different 4 packs and would be the last series release of 2002.

 

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For Arsenal we have Dennis Bergkamp, the sculpt being the same as seen back in Series 7 European SuperStars, with Chlesea fans having Frank Lampard in away kit, this sculpt was last seen in Series 13.

 

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Liverpool goal keeper Jerzy Dudek was released for the very first time, his only other regular ProStars range release would come in the Liverpool Champions of Europe 2005 Team Pack. For Manchester United we have an all new and much improved sculpt of Rio Ferdinand.

 

 

Aston Villa's Moroccan international Moustapha Hadji made his Corinthian debut, as did Don Hutchison in West Ham United away kit, the home kit version would be included in the Hammers 4 pack. Craig Bellamy was sculpted and released for the first time, here in Newcastle United away kit, the home kit figure would feature in the Toon 4 pack.

 

 

Ledley King in Tottenham Hotspur home kit was an easy repaint for Corinthian, just using the Series 13 sculpt, the same applies to Nigel Martyn for Leeds United, the sculpt first been used in Series 15. Kieron Dyer is in England 2002 home kit, which could be added to the figures in Series 15 who are in the same England kit. Filippo Inzaghi is in Italy home kit, the sculpt uses very recently in Series 17

 

 

Corinthian produced an all new body pose for the sculpt of Everton manager David Moyes, released wearing a Blue Tracksuit, the first time we have a manager in a tracksuit since the FAPL days, making this figure an instant collectors item and has always remained popular.

 

 

My personal favourite sculpt in this series is that of Inter Milan's Uruguayan Alvaro Recoba, an excellent sculpt and i liked the addition of having him with long sleeves. Spain forward Fernando Morientes made his Corinthian debut, another who was initially planned to be released in Real Madrid kit. Worth mentioning this sculpt of Morientes would never be used again, his only other ProStars release would be in Series 30 Dazzling Derbies, which would be an entirely new sculpt.

 

 

Completing the 16 figure strong line up is another first time sculpt, as we see Barry Ferguson released in Rangers home kit.

 

 

Corinthian produced 2 special redemption figures for Series 19, which see Barry Ferguson in Rangers away kit and David Beckham in Manchester United third kit. These figures were not available for direct sale, only by collecting the tokens found on the collectors information leaflets in Series 19, however Corinthian did not state how many of each were produced and they did not make platinum packs for those redemption figures. 

 

 

Series 19 was released on the 2nd December 2002, with blisters priced at £3 each and you could also order the figures from Corinthian Direct as figure and card in sachet for £2.49. Included in each pack was the figures collector card and Corinthian ran a free redemption figure offer, with 8 tokens needed to claim one of the special redemption figures.

 

 

Along with the regular blister packs, Corinthian produced something special called the Platinum Pack, these were produced in much lower numbers and not available for direct sale, they were given away free for money spent with Corinthian Direct. The figures are identical to those in the standard blister but are on a Silver base and assigned a PP (Platinum Pack) collector code, which was the same code as the PRO version, with the figure then placed on a specially designed Platinum Pack blister card, coming with collector card stating it was produced in quantities no higher 360.

 

 

Corinthian did not make public how many of each blister pack were produced, only to say that the best seller in the series was David Beckham in England away kit. The ones made in the lowest volume were Moyes, Martyn, Hutchison and Ferguson.