By BG
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Actors Peter Mayhew, Mark Hamill, Alec Guinness and Harrison Ford in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), the first film in the saga. ABACA/Avalon
The collection of Greg Jein, an Oscar-nominated special effects modeler, will go under the hammer October 14 and 15 in Dallas. An X-Wing model should be the highlight of the sale.
Fans of the intergalactic saga created by George Lucas in 1977 believed that the model of the spaceship used in the initiatory film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was lost forever. It has just been found in the personal collection of Greig Jein (1945 – 2022), a talented special effects designer nominated twice for an Oscar (1941 And Close Encounters of the Third Kind).
This collection, which is full of gems, including the famous X-Wing Fighter ship, will be auctioned on October 14 and 15 in Dallas by Heritage Auctions. The highlight of this sale, the 50 cm fighter miraculously found, will be put under the hammer with a record starting price of some $400,000.
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Special effects historian Gene Kozicki told the Hollywood Reporter that we did not know how Greg Jein, who had not worked on Star Wars, had come to own this vessel. He supposes it might have gotten into his collection while he was working on the film. Encounters of the Third Kind of Steven Spielberg in 1977. A plausible hypothesis since many special effects specialists also worked on Star Wars in the same era.
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope by George Lucas in 1977, with Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guiness…
The spaceship model belongs to the legend of Star Wars since it is present in the final scene of the first film from 1977. Designed and produced by George Lucas’ special effects company Industrial Light & Magic, we see it in the final battle, a particularly spectacular moment in the scenario. This model was very careful by the designers because it was used in close-ups. On this model the eye of the Star Wars expert can admire the details of the articulated wings, the headlights and even some intended signs of deterioration on the cabin of this terrible space battle.
In addition to this spaceship, Greg Jein’s collection contains other treasures: an original Stormtrooper costume from the 1977 film, an astronaut suit from 2001: A Space OdysseyBatarangs (boomerangs) from the 1960s Batman television series and finally accessories from Star Trek.