A rare Star Wars toy bought for 99p from a Tesco bargain bin has sold at auction for £2,000. The Yak-Face figure from Return of the Jedi, reduced from £1.59, was bought from the supermarket at some point during the 1980s.
The original owner kept it sealed in its original packaging for years before it was snapped up by another collector for around £200. The new owner then spent 20 years hunting down more toys from the film trilogy before making a tidy profit on the whole lot at a recent auction.
The unnamed buyer's hoard of 37 figures went under the hammer at an auction in Derby last week. The 99p toy sold for 2,000 times its original sticker price while his entire collection, which was tipped to make £20,000, fetched an impressive £37,500 in total.
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The 48-year-old seller, who works in financial services in Birmingham, said: "I am in shock, to be honest. I knew they were valuable but some of them were way above expectations. I hope they have gone to a good home and will be enjoyed as much as I have enjoyed them over the last 20 years. I’ve been a big Star Wars fan since the films first came out."
The seller said he purchased the figures around two decades ago "as an investment" to go with the toys he already owned and had played with as a child. Now that he has his own family he struggled to find a place to display them and eventually decided it was time to let go of them.
Other items in his collection included a rare 1984 Yak Face figure manufactured by Kenner, which made £8,600 - triple its £2,000 to £3,000 estimate. A 1984 Anakin Skywalker Kenner figure sold for £5,800, while a Power of the Force Gamorrean Guard made £3,000. A Warok Ewok coin reached £2,900 while The Empire Strikes Back Boba Fett toy from 1982 made £3,600.
David Wilson Turner, Head of Toys at Hansons Auctioneers, said: “It was a fantastic result for a phenomenal collection and I’m delighted for our client. It proves yet again that the Star Wars phenomenon is a force to be reckoned with. There are collectors worldwide keen to bid. I was excited to see how well lots 225 and 226 did as they are extremely rare figures. In almost 10 years of working at Hansons, selling multiple Star Wars items, I had never come across them before."
He said the 99p bargain bin figure, which still had its original reduction sticker on the packaging, was "fairly scarce". The 39-year-old toy, manufactured by Palitoy in 1983, went under the hammer with a guide price of £800 to £1,000. "It’s amazing to think a toy on sale for less than £1 in 1983 can make £2,000 today," David said.
