Most people balk at the idea of spending more than a couple of hundred dollars on a piece of memorabilia from their favorite pop cultural phenomenon. However, bidders looking to acquire an extremely rare Boba Fett figure will have to fork out considerably more than that to add it to their collection.
Considered to be the holy grail for Star Wars collectors, a Boba Fett figure from 1979 is currently up for auction at Hakes. At the time of this writing, the leading bid is $146,772.38. Hakes has valued the figure between $200,000 and $500,000, so the price still has room to grow before the auction ends in 10 days. Why would someone want to pay that much for a 40-year-old plastic figure, you ask? The answer is a combination of the popularity of Star Wars, the rarity of the figure and its excellent condition.
With Star Wars being as prominent in popular culture as it is right now, rare memorabilia can fetch a higher price than similarly rare items from a less-popular property. The Boba Fett Rocket-firing (J-slot) figure in question is arguably the rarest Star Wars item ever created -- it is rumored that between 80 and 100 were ever made, with less than 30 surviving today. All of the existing figures were test prototypes, used to assess whether the figure was fit for public sale. The J-slot model had a plastic rocket that could be fired as a projectile, which was deemed to be too much of a choking hazard for children. The rocket-firing functionality was scrapped, and the decision was made to fix the rocket to the back of the figure before putting it on sale.
With all of the models in existence being prototypes, most of them are now in rough condition. Experimental models were subjected to test that "included but were not limited to heating, freezing, and other destructive trials and tribulations," according to Hakes. The figure currently on sale appears to not have been subjected to most of these, as it has been graded as "AFA-graded 85+ NM+," one of the higher levels of quality.
So, if you're looking for the rarest example of Boba Fett that exists in order to celebrate the upcoming release of The Mandalorian, look no further than the Boba Fett Rocket-firing prototype. That is, however, if you can afford to pay the six-figure price tag.
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