Maybe someone needs to tell Luke Skywalker that ditching his X-Wing in the Dagobah swamp and then submerging it again in the seas of Ahch-To is a bad idea, because at this past weekends Heritage Entertainment auction his trusty Red 5 X-Wing miniature from The Empire Strikes Back sold at auction for a massive $375,000, while another Lucasfilm legend saw his item sell for an incredible $525,000 as the whip presented to HRH Prince Charles at the 1989 Royal Premiere of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was sold. These sales and others (including the sale of Rosebud, the sled from Citizen Kane which raised an unbelievable $14.75m, a sale that’s second only to the $32.5 million for Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz) made it the second-highest grossing entertainment auction of all time.
Here’s the description of that classic X-Wing.
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (TCF, 1980), “Luke Skywalker” Red Five X-wing Starfighter Filming Miniature. Original filming miniature from the second installment of the original Star Wars trilogy. Though a few other X-wing fighters flash by the screen near the film’s end, Luke Skywalker’s (Mark Hamill) Red Five was present on Hoth and flown to Dagobah for Luke’s Jedi training with Yoda, and later flown to Cloud City on Bespin. The included facsimile LOA from Academy Award-winning visual effects artist (for Alien and Empire Strikes Back) Brian Johnson states: “This is to authenticate and confirm that your X-wing model is one used by Industrial Light and Magic on ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. The model was made at ILM in San Rafael and was used on a number of multi-element motion control shots. Ken Ralston was the Cameraman. At the time I was working for Lucas Films Ltd. as Effects Supervisor. I am pretty sure the detailing was done by Mike Fulmer and Wesley Seeds.” The miniature measures 12″ x 11″ x 2″. The paint detailing with five red stripes on the trailing edge of the wings and the presence of a tiny “R2-D2” identify this miniature as being Luke’s craft. Mounted on a professionally built display with the film logo. Exhibits age and production wear and signs of professional repair. Mounting rod is a bit askew on base. One of the great, immediately recognized icons of science fiction film history.
