An X-Wing Model From the Original ‘Star Wars’ Sells for $3.1 Million

A mannequin of an X-wing fighter, which was used to movie the climactic battle scene within the 1977 “Star Wars,” bought at public sale on Sunday for $3,135,000, far exceeding the opening worth of $400,000 and setting a file for a prop used onscreen in a “Star Wars” film, in keeping with Heritage Auctions.

Not dangerous for a mannequin spaceship discovered buried in some packing peanuts in a cardboard field in a storage.

Friends of Greg Jein, a Hollywood visible results artist, found the X-wing stashed in his storage final 12 months after he died at age 76.

It was one in every of lots of of props, scripts, costumes and different items of Hollywood memorabilia that Mr. Jein had collected over the a long time, and had left scattered all through two homes, two garages and two storage models in Los Angeles.

Heritage Auctions mentioned the successful bidder didn’t need to be publicly recognized. The purchaser had been bidding on the ground of the public sale home in Dallas, competing with one other collector who was bidding over the telephone.

An identical mannequin X-wing bought final 12 months for practically $2.4 million.

More than 500 different gadgets from Mr. Jein’s assortment additionally bought on the public sale, for a complete of $13.6 million.

The two-day occasion was the second-highest-grossing Hollywood public sale in historical past, after the 2011 sale of memorabilia from the actress Debbie Reynolds, which grossed $22.8 million, Heritage Auctions mentioned.

Her assortment included Marilyn Monroe’s billowing “subway dress” from the 1955 film “The Seven Year Itch,” which bought for $4.6 million.

Mr. Jein’s assortment mirrored his ardour for science fiction, comedian books and fantasy.

It included a Stormtrooper costume from the unique “Star Wars” film, which bought for $645,000, a spacesuit from the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” which bought for $447,000, and a utility belt from the Nineteen Sixties “Batman” tv sequence, starring Adam West, which bought for $36,250.

Mr. Jein additionally collected quirkier items, like a lace hairpiece that had been worn by William Shatner as Captain Kirk within the unique “Star Trek” tv sequence. It bought for $13,750.

But the X-wing drew by far essentially the most consideration.

Heritage Auctions mentioned the 22-inch prop was utilized in scenes involving X-wings flown by three pilots within the Rebel Alliance’s remaining assault on the Death Star. The characters’ name indicators had been Red Leader, Red Two and Luke Skywalker’s personal Red Five.

It had been constructed by Industrial Light & Magic, the particular results studio based by George Lucas, with motorized wings, fiber-optic lights and different options for close-up photographs.

But folks within the visible results trade had not seen the mannequin in a long time, in keeping with Gene Kozicki, a visual-effects historian and archivist who labored with Mr. Jein on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” within the Nineteen Nineties.

“It was like ‘Holy cow, we found an X-wing, a real, honest-to-goodness X-wing,’” Mr. Kozicki mentioned final month, recalling the second he and a number of other others pulled the X-wing out of a field in Mr. Jein’s storage. “We were carrying on like kids on Christmas.”

Mr. Jein’s cousin, Jerry Chang, who attended the public sale and spoke on a panel about his cousin’s life and profession, mentioned he appreciated that Heritage Auctions “made it a point to honor Greg in everything they did, not just the items up for sale.”

Mr. Kozicki mentioned the gathering was a testomony to Mr. Jein’s love of accumulating, which began with baseball playing cards when he was 5 years outdated.

As his assortment unfold to Hollywood memorabilia, he was drawn to props and costumes that had been made by artisans and craftspeople earlier than the arrival of digital particular results, Mr. Kozicki mentioned.

In 1980, Mr. Jein was nominated for an additional Academy Award in visible results for his work on Mr. Spielberg’s “1941,” which was filmed with mannequin tanks, buildings and a runaway Ferris wheel.

“Greg famously said ‘I have a hard time throwing anything away,’ and I think in a way he kept the collection going so the recognition of those craftspeople wouldn’t be discarded like a prop,” Mr. Kozicki mentioned in an e-mail on Monday. “I can only hope that the new owners keep that spirit going.”