Why a Lost Star Wars X-Wing Model Found in a Box Sold for $3.1 Million

One of four, sold for millions

On Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023, Heritage Auctions in Dallas sold a filming miniature of an X-wing starfighter from Star Wars (1977) for $3,135,000, a figure that includes the buyer's premium. Bidding had opened at $400,000. The hammer price without the premium was not published.

The buyer's premium is the fee an auction house adds on top of the winning bid, so $3,135,000 is the total the buyer paid rather than the last bid called in the room. Most headlines rounded the result to $3.1 million.

Heritage said at the time that the result set a record for a prop used on screen in a Star Wars movie. That description belongs to October 2023; it is not a claim about where the model ranks today.

Why only four were built

For the space battle that ends the original Star Wars, Industrial Light & Magic built several X-wing models, but only four were hero miniatures: detailed models made for close-ups in key moments, distinguished by servo-controlled wings that could open and close and by working lights. This one, built at 1:24 scale, is one of those four.

Its top two wings each carry a single red stripe, which identifies it as Red Leader, also called Red One, the squadron's lead ship. But according to Heritage, battle footage shows the same model standing in for other fighters in some shots, including Red Two, flown by Wedge Antilles, and Red Five, the ship piloted by Luke Skywalker. The auction house listed it as screen matched. Its battle-distressed paint finish, with blast marks and heat scorching around the exhaust nozzles, is what Heritage says matches those shots.

That double life is a byproduct of how the effects were made. Because ILM combined separately filmed elements into finished shots, one physical model could play several ships on screen. For collectors, that turns a Red Leader model into a piece of Luke's ship as well.

Lost for decades, found under packing peanuts

After the film, the model was considered lost by the ILM team for decades, and Heritage says it had long been known as the missing X-wing. It eventually surfaced in the collection of Greg Jein, the Oscar-nominated model maker who died in 2022 at age 76. How Jein came to own it is unclear, visual effects historian Gene Kozicki told The Hollywood Reporter, as CNN reported.

In 2022, Kozicki and other visual effects experts were helping Jein's family sort through his extensive collection when they opened a cardboard box. Kozicki has described carefully scooping out packing peanuts until the nose of the X-wing appeared. Heritage said the model had been stashed in Jein's garage. According to Kozicki, it had not been displayed or modified since it left ILM.

What bidders were paying for

Several value drivers stack up here. Scarcity: there were four hero miniatures, and this is one of them. Screen connection: Heritage ties it to specific footage, and in some shots it is Luke's ship. Condition: according to Kozicki it was never modified, and collectors tend to prize an unaltered model over a restored or repainted one, because its finish can still be checked against the footage. And story: a lost object rediscovered in a box is the kind of provenance that draws attention to a sale.

The X-wing sold during Heritage's two-day sale of Jein's collection, which totaled $13,611,406, according to Antiques and the Arts Weekly. A single model accounted for more than a fifth of that total.

The distance between the $400,000 opening bid and the final $3,135,000 also says something about how auctions work. An opening bid is set to start the bidding, not to predict where it ends. With an object that has no true twin on the market, the final price depends on how far the most committed bidders are willing to go.

Questions people ask

How much did the Star Wars X-wing model sell for?

Heritage Auctions sold the Red Leader hero X-wing filming miniature for $3,135,000, including buyer's premium, on Oct. 15, 2023, in Dallas. Bidding opened at $400,000.

Was the auctioned X-wing Luke Skywalker's ship?

It is painted as Red Leader. According to Heritage, battle footage shows the same model also standing in for Red Five, Luke Skywalker's ship, and for Red Two in some shots.

Where was the missing Star Wars X-wing found?

In a cardboard box in the collection of model maker Greg Jein, who died in 2022. Visual effects experts, including Gene Kozicki, found it while helping his family sort the collection.

Sources

1. Long-lost 'Star Wars' X-wing model fetches over $3.1 million at auctionCNN via ABC17 News · 2023-09-11
2. 'Missing X-wing' from 'Star Wars' 1977 auctioned for $3.13MYahoo News UK · 2023-10-17
3. Rediscovered 'Star Wars' X-wing Model Up for Auction Starting at $400,000DAPS Magic · 2023-09-12
4. Legendary Lost Star Wars X-Wing Model Going Up for AuctionGizmodo · 2023-09-08
5. The Force Was With Heritage: X-Wing Starfighter Filming Miniature Earns $3.135 MillionAntiques and the Arts Weekly · 2023-10-16
6. An X-Wing Model from the Original 'Star Wars' Movie Sells for $3.1 MillionAntique Trader · 2023-10-17
7. Remembering Gregory Jein (1945-2022)StarTrek.com · 2022-07-11

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