Vintage Star Wars figures will be going up for auction on April 30, offering fans a rare opportunity to own a piece of toy history.
Vectis auction house in County Durham is expecting the early action figures - one of the elite Emperor's Royal Guard; Bib Fortuna and Logray - to fetch around £6,000 to £12,000 each.
The high estimates are due to the fact that the items are not the usual Star War figures but early resin prototypes used to create the well-known vintage 3.75-inch figures of The Return of the Jedi toy line.
The figures of the Emperor's Royal Guard member; Bib Fortuna - Jabba the Hutt's attendant - and Logray, the Ewok village shamen, are slightly larger than this size, to allow for shrinkage in the moulds, and contain much more detail than contained in the mass-produced figures created in the end result.
A spokeswoman from Vectis in Thornaby-on-Tees said their upcoming sale, part of a TV and film-theme auction, offers a unique opportunity for byers.
"Early prototype Star Wars figures very rarely come onto the open market," she said. "These are examples of the master sculpts ."
They were used during so-called 'tool-making operations' to produce castings for the manufacture of moulds which in turn produced individual component parts.
They have come from Roger Morrison who was tooling manager for Palitoy, the British company making the figures for the European market. He had initially been sent them in the early 1980s by US toymaker Kenner.
The authenticated figures will go on sale at Vectis Auctions on April 30 alongside a comprehensive selection of almost every vintage 3.75-inch Star Wars figure ever produced by Palitoy/Kenner and vehicles, play-sets and other Star Wars collectables.
The auction will take place from 10am on the day, with a viewing session first from 8am. To see the full auction catalogue visit here .
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