Current:Home > NewsMiniature ‘Star Wars’ X-wing gets over $3 million at auction of Hollywood model-maker’s collection -BrightPath Capital
Miniature ‘Star Wars’ X-wing gets over $3 million at auction of Hollywood model-maker’s collection
View
Date:2025-04-15 00:33:52
DALLAS (AP) — A miniature X-wing Starfighter used in a “Star Wars” film sold for over $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 $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 $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 $645,000.
A rare surviving spacesuit from Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey” sold for $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 $200,000 while prop devices from that series like a hero phaser went for $187,500 and a tricorder garnered $175,000.
Jein, who grew up in Los Angeles, was still early in his career when he led the team that created the mothership for Steven Spielberg’s 1977 film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” The model that appears gigantic in the movie is just over 5 feet (1.5 meters) long and now part of the collection at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. A small preliminary model, which is about 5 inches (12 centimeters) long, brought in $55,000 at the auction.
Lou Zutavern, Jein’s longtime friend and shop supervisor, said that he and Jein always had “a ball” working together. He said Jein was a great friend, and recalled the time he brought a box filled with model kits to entertain Zutavern after he had a knee surgery.
Zutavern said his friend had a love of Hollywood history, and a passion for seeking out items for his collection.
“He loved the search and finding things and making a trade,” Zutavern said. “It was part of the fun for him.”
veryGood! (1)
Related
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- After an Atlantic hurricane season pause, are the tropics starting to stir?
- AI may not steal many jobs after all. It may just make workers more efficient
- Mets pitcher Sean Manaea finally set for free agent payday
- As Trump Enters Office, a Ripe Oil and Gas Target Appears: An Alabama National Forest
- Scottie Scheffler caps off record season with FedEx Cup title and $25 million bonus
- How Brooke Shields, Gwyneth Paltrow and More Stars Are Handling Dropping Their Kids Off at College
- Caitlin Clark is now clear ROY favorite over Angel Reese. Why? She's helping Fever win.
- What to watch: O Jolie night
- 7 killed, dozens injured in Mississippi bus crash
Ranking
- Selena Gomez engaged to Benny Blanco after 1 year together: 'Forever begins now'
- College football schedule today: Games, scores for Saturday's Week 1 top 25 teams
- Doctor charged in Matthew Perry's death released on $50,000 bond, expected to plead guilty
- Christa McAuliffe, still pioneering, is first woman with a statue on New Hampshire capitol grounds
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- WWE Bash in Berlin 2024 live results: Winners, highlights of matches from Germany
- District attorney’s progressive policies face blowback from Louisiana’s conservative Legislature
- Linda Deutsch, AP trial writer who had front row to courtroom history, dies at 80
Recommendation
The city of Chicago is ordered to pay nearly $80M for a police chase that killed a 10
Space tourist calls Blue Origin launch 'an incredible experience': Watch the liftoff
WWE Bash in Berlin 2024 live results: Winners, highlights of matches from Germany
Look: Texas' Arch Manning throws first college football touchdown pass in blowout of CSU
Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
NY man pleads guilty in pandemic loan fraud
How Brooke Shields, Gwyneth Paltrow and More Stars Are Handling Dropping Their Kids Off at College
The Rural Americans Too Poor for Federal Flood Protections