Rare Star Wars figure goes for more than €11k at auction
A collector has paid £10,200 (€11,780) for a rare Star Wars figure at auction in England.
The Jawa figure crucially came with a vinyl cape, not a cloth one, and has never been taken out of its packaging by the seller who bought it on a market stall for pocket money prices in about 1980.
It went to an international buyer who paid £10,200 for the figure, well over the £5-6,000 (€5,700-€6,900) estimate by Teesside-based Vectis auction house.
In a statement, the vendor said he bought the toy from a market in Bacup, Lancashire, and the stallholder advised him back then that it was rare.
"It took him weeks to find it and I remember him telling me how hard it was to locate and how rare it was and for that reason I never opened it," he said.
"It has never been opened, out of my possession or altered in any way and I hope it goes to a collector who values just how rare a piece it is."
Manufacturers only made a relatively small number of Jawa figures with a vinyl cape before switching to a cloth one which looked more like the characters in the films.
Collectors will pay up to £1,000 (€1,150) for a vinyl cape Jawa in good condition even without its original packaging.
Valuer Kathy Taylor said: "Every time we have a Star Wars sale we have a worldwide following who come to see what we have."
Such is the demand for original Star Wars memorabilia that a collector paid £1,440 (€1,660) for documents relating to a sales rep's employment at Palitoy, which made the popular figures.
Vectis had put an estimate of just £20-30 (€23-34) on the lot, which included the employee's 1981 work diary, letter of employment, contract and a pay slip.
Last year, a Palitoy branded plastic bag sold for £240 (€270).
