A figure of a Jawa from the first Star Wars movie found in an attic should raise at least £15,000 at auction in the UK.
The toy is the second Jawa to be found by its owner, a former Marvel employee, who was gifted the figures used to promote the first series of Star Wars films.
The first figure was sold in July 2023. It carried an estimate of £10,000 to £15,000 but made over £26,000.
That figure inspired the seller to return home and look more carefully for toys. In his loft was a second Jawa.
Auctioneer Jonathon Torode told the BBC: “This is up there as one of the holy grails of Star Wars figure collecting.”
The toys were packaged in the UK by Palitoy. Kenner, a US company (whose parent company later bought Palitoy) designed and produced them.
A detail of the Jawa figure due to be sold on January 27. Image courtesy of Excalibur Auctions.
Collectors now seek out Palitoy toys, which are less numerous than their US counterparts. They can raise more as a result.
Jawa figures are particularly rare. The figure sold last summer was only the 8th or 9th to come to market in Palitoy packaging.
Auctioneer Jonathan Turode added: “There are people who get to a certain age and start to have a disposable income and want to relive their childhood, get all the things they potentially trashed as kids.”
The estimate on this Jawa is also £10,000 to £15,000. It will be sold alongside related items on January 27. The condition is not quite as good as its predecessor, with some damage to the packaging.
Star Wars is one of the most enduring enthusisms for modern movie collectors. The franchise, which is now in its third movie series and sixth decade, was a pioneer in the marketing and merchandising stakes.
Collectors have very specific needs: figures should be rare, and to be valuable need to be undamaged, and ideally in their original packaging.
The most valuable ever Star Wars toy was a Rocket Launcher Boba Fett (a galactic bounty hunter), which sold in 2022 for over $200,000. That was a prototype, and its value dwarves that of released toys like an Obi Wan Kenobi with Double Telescoping Lightsaber that raised $76,000 in 2017. A Darth Vader – with the same lightsaber – made nearly $65,000 in 2018.
Spotting future trends in toys is all but impossible, but buyers with an eye to the future can buy current movie memorabilia and crucially preserve it unopened if they wish to have a chance of big returns.
