From the beginning, Star Wars has been a merchandising juggernaut (see: Kenner’s empty box campaign in 1977). The franchise’s massive popularity ensured Lucasfilm had no problem securing licensing deals with companies to make a variety of tie-in products. Unsurprisingly, toys have always been a hot seller. Kids enjoy them so they can make their own Star Wars adventures, but older fans are interested in the toys as well. Collectors like to track down valuable items, and they’re willing to part ways with large sums of cash in order to acquire them. For proof, one only has to look at a recent bid for a Han Solo action figure.
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Hake’s Auctions auctioned off a 1984 Han Solo figure from a Return of the Jedi product line. It comes with a solid light brown trench coat. After 22 bids, this figure was sold for a whopping $31,720. The item was initially estimated between $5,000-10,000, so the final price was a significant increase. As for why someone would pay over $30,000 for a vintage action figure, it’s probably because this particular one is very rare.
The History of the Han Solo (Trench Coat) Action Figure
The Han Solo (Trench Coat) action figure was inspired by scenes taking place on Endor, where Han wears a camouflage coat. In Return of the Jedi, that coat has a pattern on it, which is something the final version of the toy replicated. That’s the major difference between the official release and the figure that was auctioned off. The latter is a prototype design; the bid listing described it as the “only AFA-graded example,” making it an extremely rare collectible.
As we’ve seen, rarity can drive the price up. The prop blaster Harrison Ford used while filming A New Hope (the only one of three made that was available), sold for a total of $1.057 million. Screen-used props are never going to come cheap, but that blaster is an exceptional case since it’s one of one and even has a bit of Hollywood history to it (that specific gun was used by Frank Sinatra in The Naked Runner before it was modified for Star Wars). The limited supply increases the demand, which leads to exceptionally high bids.
Your wallet would take a hit if you were interested in getting one of the officially released Han Solo (Trench Coat) figures, but the cost isn’t exorbitant (relatively speaking). The ones with the patterned trench coat will “only” set you back hundreds of dollars in certain cases (via Galactic Collector). That vast difference in price illustrates the value of a figure being rare. The patterned trench coat Han Solos were mass produced and widely available. They’re vintage, so they’re still coveted items (especially ones still in the original packaging), but they can’t compete with the prototype.
It’s also interesting to see this Han Solo prototype sell for significantly more money than the unpainted Short Round prototype that was recently auctioned off. The Short Round figure was ultimately sold for $1,562. While Indiana Jones is a widely beloved franchise, Star Wars has always been the more popular of the two, which is why collectors are willing to bid such high amounts for Star Wars collectibles. The fact that the Han prototype is also painted (which makes it more “complete”) likely also played a role here.
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