Miniature 'Star Wars' X-wing gets over US$3 million at auction of Hollywood model-maker's collection
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A miniature X-wing Starfighter used in a 'Star Wars' film sold for over US$3 million during an auction over the weekend of items both collected and created by longtime Hollywood model-maker Greg Jein.
A miniature X-wing Starfighter used in a "Star Wars" film sold for over US$3 million during an auction over the weekend of items both collected and created by longtime Hollywood model-maker Greg Jein.
The collection amassed by Jein, who died last year at the age of 76, brought in about US$13.6 million during an event at Heritage Auctions in Dallas. The auction house said that everyone from model-makers to collectors and science-fiction fans attended, making the event its best-attended in years.
Joe Maddalena, Heritage's executive vice president and a longtime friend of Jein's, said in a news release Monday that the auction was "a profound testament to my friend as both a visual-effects master and one of the great collectors."
Jein not only had an Oscar and Emmy-nominated career making miniature models for nearly half a century, but he also spent a lifetime collecting costumes, props, scripts, artwork, photographs and models from the shows he loved.
The Red Leader X-wing Starfighter that was used in the 1977 film "Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope" sold for about US$3.1 million after a bidding duel between two collectors, the auction house said. Also going for an eye-popping amount was a "Star Wars" Stormtrooper costume that sold for US$645,000.
A rare surviving spacesuit from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey" sold for US$447,000.
Jein was a fan of " Star Trek " before he worked on the franchise -- and some of the items that he collected were popular at the auction. A filming model of the "SS Botany Bay" vessel from "Star Trek: The Original Series" from the 1960s went for US$200,000 while prop devices from that series like a hero phaser went for US$187,500 and a tricorder garnered US$175,000.
