Star Wars: Ultra-rare Darth Vader and Obi-Wan figures sell for £100,000
TWO ultra-rare Star Wars figures of Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi have sold for a combined £100,000.
The plastic action figures of the two Jedi Knights were made by toy manufacturers Kenner in 1978 - a year after the release of the first Stars Wars films.
Along with Luke Skywalker, the three figures came with a 'double telescoping' light sabre inserted into their right hands.
The Jedi weapons were flimsy strips of brightly-coloured plastic that extended to double their size.
But bosses at Kenner very quickly decided to simplify the light sabres and binned the telescopic ones.
They are incredible prices that reflect the rarity of these two figures because when are you going to get the chance to buy something like this again? The answer is it may never happen
As a result only a limited number of the Star Wars figures with the telescoping light sabres were made, making them incredibly rare today.
Of the three, the Luke Skywalker figure is more common because it was part of a mass 'early bird' direct mail offer with Kenner.
But only a handful of the Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi versions exist in their original, sealed packaging and one of each has now sold at auction in the US.
The Obi-Wan Kenobi figure sold for a world record £55,000 while the Darth Vader figure achieved a price of £46,000.
Both easily beat the previous record price paid for a Star Wars figure which was £26,000 for a rare Boba Fett bounty hunter in 2016.
The two record-breaking items, that measure 4ins tall, belonged to collector Russell Branton.
He was a big Star Wars fans as a child but only began collecting original figures about 15 years ago when he had enough disposable income.
Although he would have paid high prices for many of the items at the time, they have dramatically risen in value over the last five years.
Alex Winter, the president of auctioneers Hake's Americana and Collectables, said: "Russell began his collection about 15 years ago and he paid very good money for these things.
"But over time they have escalated in price, especially the 'double telescoping' Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
"They are incredible prices that reflect the rarity of these two figures because when are you going to get the chance to buy something like this again? The answer is it may never happen.
"Star Wars is multi-generational. We have fans who were kids when the original films came out in the 1970s and now their kids have seen the recent films and are fans too."