A miniature X-Wing starfighter used in the “Star Wars” movies sold for more than $3 million at an auction over the weekend by veteran Hollywood model maker Greg Jein ) to collect and craft.
Collection The collection, which Jein, who died last year at age 76, brought in about $13.6 million at an event at Heritage Auctions in Dallas. The auction house said everyone from model makers to collectors and science fiction fans attended, making the event the most well attended in years.
Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage and a longtime friend of Jein’s, said at a news conference Monday that the sale “is a profound testament to my friend’s status as a master of visual effects and one of the great collectors. “
Not only has Jein had a career of nearly half a century making miniatures, earning him Oscar and Emmy nominations, but he has also spent a lifetime collecting costumes, props, scripts, artwork, photographs, and models from the shows he loved .
The Red Leader X-Wing starfighter used in the 1977 film “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” sold for about $3.1 million after two collectors bid on it, the auction house said. Also fetching an eye-popping price was the “Star Wars” Stormtrooper costume, which sold for $645,000.
A rare surviving space suit from Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey” has sold for $447,000.
Jein is a fan of StarCraft Before he went into franchising, some of the items he collected were popular at auctions. The shooting model of the “SS Botany Bay” spaceship in “StarCraft: The Original Series” in the 1960s is priced at US$200,000, while props and equipment such as the hero phaser in the series are sold at US$187,500, and the tricorder is sold at US$187,500. for $175,000.
Jein, who grew up in Los Angeles, was in the early stages of his career when he led the team that built the mothership for Steven Spielberg’s 1977 film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” The giant model featured in the film was just over 5 feet (1.5 meters) long and is now part of the collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. A small preliminary model, about 5 inches (12 cm) long, brought in $55,000 at auction.
Lou Zutavern, Jein’s longtime friend and store manager, said he and Jein were always “a joy” to work with. He said Jein was a good friend and recalled the time he brought a box full of model kits to Zutavern after knee surgery.
Zutavin said his friend loved Hollywood history and was passionate about finding items for his collection.
“He loved to search, find things and trade them,” Zutavin said. “That’s part of the fun for him.”
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