Star Wars memorabilia goes under the hammer

An enormous collection of Star Wars memorabilia, from one careful owner, has been sold for nearly £27,000.

Hundreds of collectables from the sci-fi franchise were auctioned at Willingham, near Cambridge on Saturday.

They included a rare 1978 radio-controlled Jawa Sandcrawler, in its original box, which sold for £850.

Opening the sale, auctioneer Stephen Drake said: "It's the biggest collection I've ever seen, or had the pleasure to sell."

The collection had been divided into nearly 90 separate lots, each containing dozens of mint-condition boxed and unboxed figures, playsets and other memorabilia.

Mr Drake said it was "a very special collection - out of this world, one would say".

He said the pieces dated from 1978 onwards, depicting each of the nine movies in the franchise, which had been collected by one person since the figures were manufactured.

The collection ranges from figurines of the popular characters like Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Princess Leia, to more obscure fighters and droids - as well as weapons, fan club magazines and posters.

"You're talking quite a few thousand figures in amongst the whole lot.

"Some of the early pieces - the Star Wars 17 figures - they're rare," he said.

Individual lots fetched amounts ranging from £35 for a 1978 Ben Kenobi with grey hair to £2,800 for a collection of unboxed figures from between 1978 and 2011.

Some single character figures fetched large amounts such as an R2-D2 with pop up light sabre from 1985 that sold for £360 and a set of three Ewoks from the same year which made £400.

The entire collection sold for £26,915.

After the sale, Mr Drake said: "It was absolutely incredible, an auctioneer's dream really, fantastic.

"I'm just so pleased for the vendor, I'd spent a lot of time generating interest.

"Now she'll be able to get the car in the garage which is very important."

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]