Auctioneers hope a 1979 costume created by a “Star Wars” costume designer will garner at least $1 million.
The “Star Wars” franchise has more than its share of iconic imagery. There is Luke Skywalker’s light saber. There, too, is the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo blasting into hyperspace. And no one will forget Darth Vader breathing heavily through a black mask, his cape snapping behind him as he walked.
On Saturday, visitors to the Los Angeles office of Bonhams, an international auction house, will be able to view a 1979 costume of Darth Vader to be sold at auction on May 14. It is owned by Kermit Bryce Eller, a computer storage engineer from Thousand Oaks, Calif., who was hired from 1977 to 1982 on behalf of the movie’s makers to attend conventions, book parties, marketing events and even performing at the Academy Awards dressed as the dark lord.
Bonhams estimates it will fetch a minimum of $1 million, an optimistic sum given auctioneers cannot confirm the costume was worn in any of the franchise’s films. “Sometimes it’s go big or go home,” said Catherine Williamson, Bonhams’s director of entertainment memorabilia, of the eye-popping price.
The costume is made up of a number of pieces and garments, including a fiberglass face mask, stitched leather pants, vest and gloves, shin guards, two wool capes and a black leather codpiece.
Over the years, some props and costumes from “Star Wars” — or pieces of them — have sold well, while others failed to pique interest. In 2017, an R2-D2 unit from “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope,” sold for $2.75 million. Last year, though, a light saber said to have been used by Mark Hamill in the first film was pulled from an auction after fans questioned its authenticity and the $200,000 price tag.
And in 2010, a Darth Vader costume made for “The Empire Strikes Back” — including helmet, mask and armor — was offered at auction and expected to sell for $250,000.
