Both Marty McFly’s hoverboard from Back to the Future II (1989) and Anakin Skywalker’s light sabre from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005) were on offer to movie-minded auction-goers last month as part of the latest Entertainment Memorabilia Live sale organised by Prop Store, the London and Los Angeles-based purveyor of fine movie mementos.
Even the abiding appeal of time-travelling teenagers and Jedi weaponry, however, was not enough to steal the top spot at the sale, with that accolade undoubtedly going to the iconic fedora worn by Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the franchise’s 1981 debut, which went for a heroic £320,000.
Mind you, even Indiana Jones might have been topped had another of the auction’s most illustrious lots – the jacket worn by Han Solo (Ford again) in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the second tranche of the original Star Wars saga – gone for anything like the initial estimate of £500,000 to £1 million. Sadly, it failed to meet its reserve price, with the highest bid clocking in at just £450,000 – not enough to Force the sale through.