IN A GALAXY FAR FAR AWAY...
On May 4th, a jeweler in Tokyo, Japan, sold a life-size Darth Vader mask made of 24-karat gold for the bargain price of $1.4 million. Jeweler Ginza Tanaka unveiled the glitzy helmet and announced it would go on sale to celebrate the 40th anniversary of “Star Wars: A New Hope.”
It took a total of 10 goldsmiths three months to craft and assemble the ultimate “Star Wars” trophy. The helmet is 10.4 inches wide, 11.8 inches tall and weighs 33 pounds. Due to its weight, the mask is too heavy to wear unfortunately.
Its going to take a very special kind of fan to own this very ritzy Star Wars memorabilia but if you don’t have the money for this gilded paperweight, the jeweler has also made commemorative “Star Wars” coins that are a tad more affordable. The coins come in sets of three that sell for about $11,000 a pop. If you’re interested in these coins, you have to act fast. Ginza Tanaka has only 77 sets, a number that the jeweler says is an homage to 1977, the year that “A New Hope” was released.
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU, AND YOUR BANK ACCOUNT IF YOU BOUGHT THIS
I ran across this article on Huffingtonpost (link below) and I was so curious who is the one that actually purchased this? I am a fan, don't get me wrong, I grew up on Star Wars but you gotta be one rich fan to purchase such an item. Seeing this article reminded me of a dear old friend who is to this day always hunting down rare Star Wars memorabilia, the man puts some serious efforts into finding and collecting as much Star Wars items as possible that its over taking his house. I better take a closer look at his collection sometime, this mask maybe sitting on his desk..lol. The stuff people collect amazes me....but 1.4 Million, think I would be collecting this bad boy for the gold vs what it represents.
~sflaherty
Follow me @sflaherty
Parts of this article originally from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/solid-gold-life-size-darth-vader-mask-is-being-sold-for-14-million_us_590b51d3e4b0104c734c89f0