A major Star Wars sale later this month will help fund a new museum to celebrate the film series.
Lots including on-screen props and costumes, production drawings, posters and publicity materials, plus a super rare set of heads for an unreleased Yoda toy are included in the sale at Julien’s Auctions called Echoes From the Galaxy.
Julien’s say in a statement: “This isn’t merely a sale of cinematic relics; it’s a strategic maneuver by four of the world’s foremost Star Wars collectors to breathe life into a ground-breaking vision. Imagine a new public museum, a 200,000-square-foot sanctuary for 1.5 million Star Wars objects, designed to inspire and serve the world through a galactic range of exhibits, programs, and amenities.”
The sale will take place at the Comic Con Museum in San Diego on July 27, when 300 lots, 180 of which will support the museum plan, will be sold.
The Saga Museum that will celebrate Star Wars is currently in its early planning stages, seeking funding and a host city. The project has grown out of the Rancho Obi-Wan, the home of the world’s largest Star Wars memorabilia collection in Petaluma, California.
Star Wars collectors will find some legendary pieces to peruse in this sale.
The Yoda heads celebrate the tiny, aged Jedi who is an unlikely hero of the Star Wars cycle. Image courtesy of Julien’s Auctions.
They include prototype heads from an abandoned Yoda toy project. These six heads carry a $40,000 top estimate. They were made by Kenner, the company who created most Star Wars toys, during preparation for a possible Yoda hand puppet to be released in 1980 alongside The Empire Strikes Back. The toy proved too expensive to produce and was abandoned.
An on-screen Stormtrooper’s helmet from one of the film cycle’s most celebrated scenes is expected to make the most.
The costume piece carries an estimate range of $200,000 to $300,000. It is screen-matched to Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, the original Star Wars movie, released in 1977.
It was worn during some of the early scenes in the movie, on Tatooine (Luke Skywalker’s home planet), and may have been worn in the pivotal scene in which Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) meets Darth Vader (David Prowse, James Earl Justice (voice)) for the first time.
“Darth Vader. Only you could be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not sit still for this,” says the Princess, who fans will later learn is Vader’s daughter.
Screen-matching is used to match props to the movies in which they appear. Here, a Stormtrooper’s helmet is located in Star Wars. Image courtesy of Julien’s Auctions.
Star Wars collecting is now in a galaxy of its own and generates large amounts of money and huge interest.
In August 2024, a Bobba Fett figure made $1.3 million at auction to become the most expensive toy ever sold. It came from a line discontinued because a small part in the proposed design was a choking hazard.
In 2023, an X-Wing rebel fighter prop used in the first film made a record $3.1 million.
This sale is unlikely to match those figures if its estimates are accurate, but it is certainly the Star Wars event of the year.
