Posted on 09/12/2022 7:53:36 AM PDT by marktwain
The prop used by the character Han Solo in the original Star Wars movie was lost for decades. It was recently rediscovered, re-assembled, and sold at auction at Rock Island Auction Company. The price, as bid, was $900,00. With the buyer’s fees, the total amount came to $1,057,500.
The following video shows the bidding at Rock Island Auction Company. It is fast. It is pricey. It only lasts two minutes and 59 seconds.
Interested bidders from all over the world were willing to pay a lot of money for this iconic movie prop.
The history of the prop is fascinating. Director George Lucas did not want flash and shiny. He wanted something described as a “used future,” meaning props and devices in the movie should appear to show wear and appear cheap. The original Star Wars did not have a big budget. The video below tells the entire story of how the prop was made from a surplus Mauser 96 pistol. They were still cheap in England in 1976. A scope mount, flash hider, and other items were added to create a unique DL-44 Heavy Blaster.
While the Solo DL-44 Heavy Blaster movie prop netted over a million dollars, it is only the tenth highest item that has been sold through Rock Island Auctions.
The top price was for a cased pair of Remington New Army model revolvers owned by President Grant. They are percussion revolvers and sold for $5,170,000 dollars. They were presented to General Ulysses S. Grant when he was commander of the Union Armies before becoming president.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
A Beeber would have gone for a lot more.
Moichandising! Moichandising!
I enjoyed the Star Wars movies, but was never a fanatic and would never worship star wars memorabilia. Owing them would never be a joyous accomplishment of my life.
Yes, apparently sometime between when the universe was 9 billion years old and now. That’s a decent sized window. Heck, even a million years ago would be a long time ago, and still allow for development of intra-galactic organizations.
It’s a fake. It’s too clean and shiny to have been used all over the galaxy smuggling, shooting stormtroopers and other enemies, rough handling by a Wookie, weathering sandstorms, etc.
The problem with the atheists believing that is our archaeological record shows 50% to 80% of all known phyla to spring up into existence in a relatively brief 400,000 years ago -- completely blowing away the math on Darwinishm. https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/cambrian-explosion-becomes-more-explosive
Oh, sure. That’s what makes a horse race.
For most (normal, healthy) collectors of such things, it’s not the item, but rather the memories the items evoke.
My children love Star Wars because I love Star Wars, so we have family memories together of watching The Mandalorian, or me dressing as Chewbacca and driving them to school, my eldest (who is now in the IDF) dressing as a X-Wing pilot, etc.
Just fun.
(Take out the word “ago” from “brief 400,000 years ago”. It was over 500 million years ago, but the Cambrian Expl. lasted about 400k, years.)
Several were used for different shot, so it’s not the only blaster prop.
It was repaired and parts were replaced.
Also, I love the Rock Island Auction catalogs. Some of their old stuff, old Colts and Winchesters are drool-worthy.
My max bid was $1,000,001.50. Lost that one, darn it.
Yep. Its just a Mauser C96 with some extra parts bolted on.
Also, I love the Rock Island Auction catalogs. Some of their old stuff, old Colts and Winchesters are drool-worthy.
It’s really something going to one of those gun auctions and watching guys drop a few hundred grand on a Colt. In the good old days they tacked on random lots at the end of the auction and you could often get some cool estate items for pennies. No secrets anymore, though.
I like the backstory on it. The gun was previously used as a prop by Frank Sinatra in an older movie.
“While the Solo DL-44 Heavy Blaster movie prop netted over a million dollars, it is only the tenth highest item that has been sold through Rock Island Auctions.
“The top price was for a cased pair of Remington New Army model revolvers owned by President Grant. They are percussion revolvers and sold for $5,170,000 dollars. They were presented to General Ulysses S. Grant when he was commander of the Union Armies before becoming president.”
The Grant revolvers would be drool-worthy, but in keeping with the theme of the original post, light years above my budget.
I don’t ascribe “normal” to such activities, if we take “normal” at least as the views of the vast majority of people.
Aa far as healthy”, I won’t try to play armchair psychologist/psychiatrist.
As for me, I left my childhood back in my childhood.
I suspect, at the million dollar level, pride of ownership is a relatively small part of the incentives.
With inflation racking up, these high level collectibles tend to do very well at keeping and increasing value over the years.
I suspect, at the million dollar level, pride of ownership is a relatively small part of the incentives.
With inflation racking up, these high level collectibles tend to do very well at keeping and increasing value over the years.
There is that. This these high end collectables are selling as an investment. But this also in the sweet spot time frame for nostalgia. People that tend to spend big on collectibles are in their 40’s-50’s. Once people hit 60 or so they stop accumulating stuff and start thinking about downsizing. So good luck selling your antique spoon collection. Nobody wants that these days.
It leaned much more towards fantasy rather than “science” fiction. The roar of space ships and weapons in outer space was a clue. To enjoy it you had to do some serious suspension of belief so then zipping around the far far away galaxy was a breeze.
One of the prop Walters from Dr. No went on auction last year I think. There was a whole scene where Bond gets outfitted with it in M’s office. It sold for a more moderate 200 something thousand.
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