Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Sci-fi auction goes down a Storm...
Seized Star Wars items help raise £400k in auction
ALMOST £400,000 was raised last night as a criminal’s film and TV memorabilia went under the hammer at auction.
Movie fans from all over Europe headed to Wilsons Auctions near Belfast for the sale of Wiltshire man Martin Fillery’s remarkable haul of rare collectables on Thursday night.
Enthusiasts from the US and beyond made online bids during the asset recovery auction, where none of the lots had a reserve price.
Fillery, 46, spent decades building up the £1million treasure trove that he stored in an old nuclear bunker – which he also used as a cannabis factory. He was jailed for eight years in August.
One of the items that generated most interest was a car actually used in Back To The Future II which sold for £20,000. Wilson’s spokesman Aidan Larkin said: “The interest has been truly global. Everything we raise goes back into the public purse. There’s a bit of fun but a serious job to be done.”
A replica boat from the 1960s Batman TV show raised £15,000 while a Batbike as depicted in the modern day films went for £13,000. A Starsky And Hutch-style red and white Ford Torino was snapped up at £7,500, an Only Fools And Horses replica three-wheeled van went for £6,000 while Postman Pat’s van sold for £3,500.
A life-size Iron Man statue sold for £3,100 and a Star Wars Stormtrooper uniform made £2,450. A life-size Terminator, an Ewok, a Doctor Who Cyberman, ET and a Gremlin also went under the hammer.