David’s Star Wars memorabilia sale goes galactic

AN auction of a vast collection of memorabilia owned by the late Bristolian Star Wars actor David Prowse was on course to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Among the more than 600 items from Mr Prowse’s estate was a script for Empire Strikes Back which fetched an astronomical £23,000.

Another huge sale was a signed photograph from co-star Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the celebrated films which sold for an incredible £15,000 – nearly every item of memorabilia going under the hammer at East Bristol Auctions yesterday smashing its pre-sale estimate.

The first 50 items sold for a total of more than £44,000, putting the sale on track to perhaps reach £500,000.

Replica lightsabers proved particularly popular with Star Wars enthusiasts from around the globe who drove bidding on the online auction into the stratosphere.

One prototype that was only expected to fetch £80 ended up selling for £9,000. It was given to Mr Prowse after filming for the movies finished.

The kit, made of old camera parts, was expected to fetch between £80-£120 but fetched a whopping £9,000.

Other lightsabers fetched £10,000, £6,500, £2,700 and £2,200.

Among the hundreds of lots were his Empire Strikes Back script, a piece of the Millennium Falcon and a Darth Vader mask.

A signed card from Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill where he calls Mr Prowse ‘dad’ sold for £15,000. The Darth Vader mask Mr Prowse used at conventions and events was bought for £2,200.

His Empire Strikes Back script, which has key lines removed so the actors didn’t reveal the big twist that Vader was Luke’s father, was the last lot sold yesterday – fetching £23,000.

The collection was sold yesterday on May 4 to coincide with international Star Wars day due to the ‘May the fourth be with you’ play on words.

Mr Prowse, who died aged 85 last year, was born in Southmead.

Alzheimer’s Research was due to benefit from the sale.