Star War collecting is incredibly vast with so many different areas of interest to suit all budgets. Longtime collectors would always snigger when I’d say that my collection is almost complete and I’m beginning to understand why. When I started collecting I began with books / comics and then computer games. Over time, this progressed to Action Figure related items, original movie merchandise and anything that I found interesting or unusual.
Although highly desirable, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would put a toe in the props market. I saw fellow collectors proudly showcasing items, some fantastic screen used and matched props, but the prices to me were just staggering.
All of these prices have been realised in the last 12 months.
£216,000 for an original Tie Fighter Pilot helmet
£4,000 for hats and scarves from Crew in Hoth (Finse)
£100,000 for a screen used y-wing model
… this is not only way out of my price league but incomprehensible to me. The props market was clearly out of reach unless I sold my entire Action Figure collection (and at least one kidney) and that was not something I was prepared to do.
An older and wiser collector knows that selected prop collecting is indeed accessible and cast and crew items, for example, are not all unobtainable. Call sheets, Ewok fur, Sail Barge parts are more are widely available and thankfully to collectors like Andy Goulding Krayt Dragon bones can be added too.
The Krayt Dragon for A New Hope was a fibre glass prop first used in the beloved 1975 Disney movie “One of Our Dinosaurs is missing.”
It was positioned on the sand dune and left there once filming was complete. Andy, and other collectors, visited Tunisia in the 90’s and thanks to the help of locals brought a lot of props over as souvenirs of their travels.
This is a piece of Krayt Dragon which Andy sold to me at Collectormania this weekend. In this piece you can clearly see the different layers and texture of one of the vertebrae of the Dragon, or dinosaur!
As with most areas of collecting it is very important to get provenance before making purchases. There are fakes out there so be careful, make sure you seek opinions from mulitple places before making a purchase. The Prop Store is just one of the many reputable online stores and auction houses who regularly sell props and they’re always available to answer questions. They’re certainly interested if you have any movie props of interest.