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Star Wars exhibition opens at Northampton's refurbished museum

Northampton Museum Darth Vader helmetNorthampton Museum
The collection has been touring museums throughout the UK but was paused during the pandemic

One of the UK's biggest collections of vintage Star Wars toys and posters has gone on display at Northampton's redeveloped museum.

The exhibition May the Toys Be With You features collectibles, displays, and art work from the original trilogy of films.

Northampton Museum and Art Gallery reopened in July after a £6.7m, four-year, refurbishment.

Matt Fox, who owns the collection, said it was "filled with nostalgia".

The museum said it anticipated it would be one of the most popular exhibitions since its reopening.

Its refurbishment was funded by the controversial sale of a 4,000-year-old Egyptian statue by the now defunct Northampton Borough Council in 2014.

Northampton Museum Star Wars toyNorthampton Museum
Many of Mr Fox's original toys are on display as well as others collected more recently

The collection includes toys from 1977 to 1985, design work and posters from the Star Wars movies.

Mr Fox said he was five-years-old when the first film came out in 1977.

"It was the first movie I saw and straight away afterwards we were down to the toy shop and I got my first ever Star Wars figure, which was a Darth Vader," he said.

Lucasfilm Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison FordLucasfilm
The first Star Wars film, starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford (left to right), broke box office record when it opened in 1977

He said in the mid-1990s he rediscovered his toy collection and "started collecting more seriously".

Mr Fox said: "It's crazy these little plastic toys you could buy for £1.50 can sell for thousands.

"The designs are brilliant, everybody knows Darth Vader's helmet, the Stormtroopers, the X-Wing, and the Death Star."

He said the collection included "prized items that look like they are still on the shop shelves".

"People are looking into the cabinets and thinking 'I had one of those'," he added.

Northampton Museum StormtrooperNorthampton Museum
Star Wars is one of the most popular film franchises with fans around the world

An estimated 300 million Star Wars action figures were produced between 1977 and 1985.

Toys including X-Wing Fighters, lightsabers and Han Solo's Millennium Falcon were mass produced.

This marked a new era in marketing film as sales of merchandise outstripped even the box office record set in 1977 by the first instalment of the Star Wars saga.

The exhibition runs until 4 September.

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