The Force is strong at sale of $17,500 Darth Vader helmet

This Saturday saw one hundred unique re-imaginings of Stars Wars character Darth Vader's iconic helmet go up for sale at Freeman's Vader Project auction.

Set-up by Sarah Jo Marks and Dov Kelemer, of DKE toys, 100 of the best underground artists and designers were recruited to design their own take on the famous helmet

The results proved a hit, making appearances at both conventions and museums around the world in recent years.


Huck Gee's Samurai
Inspired Design

In 2009, the helmets set a record for an exhibition of its kind - and so a date was set for the auction.

In statement released in advance of the sale, Marks and Kelemer said: "The sale will give members of the public the chance to purchase unique artworks made from these iconic symbols of the movie industry."

These included works by a number of well known artists, including Shag, Marc Ecko, Tim Biskup, Frank Kozik and many more.

The auction took place this Saturday in Freeman's Philadelphia auction house. Among the 100 helmets up for auction, it was Frank Kozik's "Rust Vader" which proved to be one of the stars.

Depicting a rusted version of the Vader helmet, the art piece exceeded its low end estimate of £6,600 ($10,000), coming in at £8,200 ($12,500).

Elsewhere, the Wade Lageose "untitled" design depicting a cross between Darth Vader and the Statue of Liberty sold for £6,600 ($10,000).

The biggest surprise of the auction was perhaps the Huck Hee "Kurai No kurai" Darth Vader design, which depicted the iconic helmet as a samurai warrior.

This art piece had been expected to sell at an estimated price of £2,000-3,300 ($3,000-5,000) but sold for an impressive £7,100 ($10,880) on the auction block.


Mister Cartoon's Darth Fader

However, it was Mister Cartoon's hypnotic "Darth Fader" (pictured above) which took the most money, coming in at £11,600 ($17,500), in what proved to be an interesting day for modern art and Star Wars fans alike.

 

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