This was the auction science-fiction fans were looking for.
Heritage’s Greg Jein Collection Hollywood Platinum Signature Auction, which featured more than 550 iconic models, props, costumes and art from the fabled collection of Oscar- and Emmy-nominated visual effects artist Greg Jein, realized $13,611,406 last weekend, Oct. 14-15. The two-day event became the second-highest-grossing Hollywood auction in history, behind only the $22.8 million Debbie Reynolds auction in 2011.
Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
The highlight of the event was a miniature X-wing starfighter, which was used to film the climactic battle scene in the 1977 “Star Wars: A New Hope,” that sold for $3,135,000 Sunday, far exceeding the opening price of $400,000 and setting a record for a prop used onscreen in a “Star Wars” movie, according to Heritage.
Friends of Jein discovered the X-wing stashed in his garage last year after he died at age 76. It was one of hundreds of props, scripts, costumes and other pieces of Hollywood memorabilia that Jein had collected over the decades, and had left scattered throughout two houses, two garages and two storage units in Los Angeles.
Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
The 22-inch prop was used in scenes involving X-wings flown by three pilots in the Rebel Alliance’s final assault on the Death Star. The characters’ call signs were Red Leader, Red Two and Luke Skywalker’s own Red Five. The prop was built by Industrial Light & Magic, the special effects studio founded by George Lucas, with motorized wings, fiber-optic lights and other features for close-up shots.
Courtesy of Heritage Auctions
Moments before the X-wing blasted its way into the record books, one of the few surviving Imperial Stormtrooper costumes from “Star Wars” realized $645,000. Joe Maddalena, Heritage’s executive vice president and a longtime friend of Jein, said the auction was “a profound testament to my friend as both a visual-effects master and one of the great collectors.”
Click here for complete results from the Greg Jein Collection Hollywood Platinum Signature Auction.
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