Celebrities
Boba fetches a bounty: The world’s most expensive ‘Star Wars’ toy
If you’re under the age of 50, there’s a good chance that you have a beloved tale you could tell about your first “Star Wars” toy. However, that feeling of nostalgia is about to be overrun by a powerful urge to kick yourself.
Out of all the action figures, play sets and space vehicles that have come from decades of films made by George Lucas — and now, JJ Abrams and others — one has emerged as the most valuable: Boba Fett. The early figure never went into production because of fears that the projectile rocket on its back could injure a child.
Now, one of those toys has smashed the record for “Star Wars” merchandise, selling at auction for $34,000.
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According to the BBC, the rare bounty hunter fetched a bounty far greater than the $6,000 that was expected in the French auction. The figure was part of a larger collection of 700 pieces of “Star Wars” merchandise that earned $654,000 in total.
The collection was amassed by a French fan of the film over some 40 years of collecting all over the world. The unnamed collector had previously loaned some of his items to a museum, and the jewel was considered to be the Boba Fett figure from the late ’70s, still sealed and in its original box.
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“There’s been terrific interest, emails and constant condition reports from all corners of the globe,” Kathy Taylor, a valuer for the auction house, tells the Daily Mail. “With the Internet, we can send photos and tell people what condition the toys are in so they can bid with confidence.”
The two-day auction featured everything from a portable pinball machine to a Jabba the Hutt cookie jar. “He’s a private collector — the whole family collects,” explains Taylor. “When he was four years old, his mom started to buy him Star Wars toys because he was quite shy and he had a real fixation on Ewoks and Boba Fett.”