A prototype of the iconic golden bikini worn by Carrie Fisher in 1983’s “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi” sold for $175,000 at auction. The sale was part of a $5.9 million Hollywood blockbuster for Heritage Auctions as the collectibles and memorabilia market continues its upward trend following a COVID-19 pandemic-inspired boom.
The bikini, sold by Heritage Auctions on Friday, July 26, was not even worn by the actress in Jabba the Hutt’s palace in the movie. Instead, the film’s costume designers made a more comfortable version for Fisher to wear, though she told NPR in 2016 that it still did not hit the comfort mark.
In the same auction, Heritage sold a Y-wing fighter model that was part of the trench run that eventually blew up the Death Star in “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.” The “hero” model is extremely detailed and was used for close-ups while filming the special effects sequences. That model sold for $1.55 million last week.
“It’s another cultural phenomenon,” Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena told Straight Arrow News. “Because these movies and TV shows use practical effects, not CGI [computer-generated imagery]. They actually used miniatures. They’re so coveted because look at what we can do with CGI. But why do the movies with practical effects look so much better?”
Maddalena said interest in entertainment-related memorabilia has been growing steadily for decades.
“Collecting movie props in a serious way started in about 1970 and it’s been a pretty steady ride,” he said. “We haven’t had a giant escalation in price. It’s been pretty healthy.”
“You can go anywhere in the world and they know who Harry Potter is,” Maddalena added. “You can go anywhere in the world and you can say ‘Hasta la vista, baby,’ and they know that’s Arnold [Schwarzenegger]. Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, these are ‘American pastime.’ It’s different. It’s not that one’s better than the other.”
While entertainment collectibles may have more of a global appeal, they do not fetch the high dollars that sports memorabilia does. In fact, Heritage will auction off the jersey worn by baseball icon Babe Ruth when he “called his shot” in the 1932 World Series. That jersey is expected to fetch as much as $30 million when the gavel bangs at the end of August.
“Babe Ruth is bigger than baseball,” Maddalena told SAN. “Babe Ruth was a cultural phenomenon.”
The “called shot” happened in the fifth inning of Game 3 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. It was a ruckus game and baseball historians are split on whether he was pointing to the opposing pitcher, the Cubs’ dugout or the fence.
“Whether this call shot is a myth or it actually was him pointing at the fence [where] he hit a home run, [it] doesn’t matter,” Maddalena said. “It’s the fact that you have probably the most important image in sports, in baseball history, for sure, of Ruth calling that shot. You have that tunic that you can match to that moment in time. It’s priceless.”
The last time the jersey sold was in 2005 for $940,000.
After the COVID-inspired boom in value for collectibles, the “King of Collectibles” Ken Goldin called the massive price increases an “irrational, unsustainable spike.” Since then, record values have fallen for collectible mainstays like trading cards, watches and even rare whiskeys and wines.
“A Charizard, which is the greatest Pokemon card, let’s just say you had a PSA 10 Charizard: perfect card, first edition,” Maddalena, who also handles Heritage’s trading card business, said. “That card, pre-COVID, was $15,000 to $18,000. [At] the height of COVID, it was $400,000, now the card is about $250,000. If you compare $250,000 to pre-COVID, it’s still really, really good.”
Heritage will list Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the “Wizard of Oz” in December, and while Maddalena has had the pleasure of listing items from major films, there are still items out there he would love to get his hands on.
“The only thing I’ve never seen is Maria, the robot from ‘Metropolis,’” he told SAN. “So in the movie, it gets destroyed in the fire. But I’m sure they made more than one. So if that existed, God knows what that would be worth.”
For context, a lot of nine rare and early movie posters, which included one for the 1927 film “Metropolis,” brought in $1.2 million at auction in 2012.
The overall collectibles market is still growing, according to research firm Market Decipher. They said it will cross $600 billion this year, gaining more than 9% over last year. They project the overall collectibles market will eclipse $1 trillion in the next decade.
While there is big money to be made in the world of collectibles, Maddalena said there is more to collecting than profit.
“Search out people who are knowledgeable,” he said. “Learn, and then the fun part about it is no matter what you spend, the joy you get from it, that’s what this is all about. This is your hobby. Hobbies are healthy. They give you personal enjoyment and sometimes they make money.”
“You meet amazing people you would never meet anywhere else,” he added. “You form lifelong friendships with people who are so unlike you because you have something in common. And I think that’s the value of collecting.”
