Ther Force must have been strong at this auction – because a mystery buyer paid nearly £1million for Darth Vader’s helmet.
The fibreglass and foam head covering from The Empire Strikes Back was expected to sell for £365,000, but a bidding frenzy saw it fetch three times that.
An unknown fan forked out £731,000 for the item worn by British actor David Prowse in the second Star Wars film in 1980, when Darth Vader reveals he is Luke Skywalker’s dad.
Other fees took the total bill to £936,000.
The combined helmet and mask were the star attractions of nearly 1,000 lots sold by auctioneers Profiles in History in Los Angeles on Thursday.
In total, £8million worth of costumes and props went under the hammer.
An auction spokesman said: “Original Darth Vader helmet masks are exceedingly rare and are considered to be the holy grail of science fiction artefacts.” Darth Vader’s shoulder armour went for £65,000.
The second highest price paid was £620,000 for a black and white dress worn by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.
Other lots included the moon buggy driven by Sean Connery in Diamonds are Forever, which sold for £415,000, and Rocky Balboa’s Harley Davidson from Rocky III, which fetched £260,000.
