Star Wars rare Jawa figure sells for £21,000 at auction

An original Jawa character with a vinyl cape from the first group of 12 Star Wars figures ever made sold for £21,000

A rare single Star Wars figure that "walked in off the street" has sold for £21,000 at auction.

The original Jawa character with a vinyl cape from the first group of 12 Star Wars figures ever made in early 1978, sold at Excalibur Auctions in Kings Langley.

Only a few still exist as the capes were later replaced with fabric ones.

Hertfordshire auctioneer Jonathan Torode said the figure's owner "had no clue" of its value.

The owner gave the auction house three figures to sell from the same time series and the other two - one of the sand people and a stormtrooper - sold for £600 and £300 respectively.

"What's really special about [the Jawa] is that it's a withdrawn type," said Mr Torode.

Until recently Jawa figures on Palitoy cards in the UK were "thought to be a myth"

A Jawa with a vinyl cape had been made in the US but Star Wars creator George Lucas had decided it "wasn't good enough" so they added a cloth cape instead "to make it look better", the auctioneer said.

"But a few of these early vinyl cape ones made their way to the UK and ended up on a Palitoy backing card," he added.

He said there had been a few in the US on backing cards for the distributors there, but up until about seven or eight years ago, Jawa figures on Palitoy cards in the UK were "thought to be a myth".

"A few have appeared in the last few years, but this one is particularly important because we actually got full provenance with it," Mr Torode said, "this [figure] just literally walked in off the street."

Auctioneer Jonathan Torode said he "just started shaking" when he realised it was "the one".

The auction house said it had been talking to the former art director for Marvel UK - who made British versions of all the American Marvel comics - about some comics and comic artwork for another auction.

"One of these comics was Star Wars Weekly and they were going to run a promotion giveaway of 10 complete sets of the first 12 figures made, so they needed a photograph to put in the comic," Mr Torode said.

"Palitoy sent them a full set of 12 and they ripped eight or nine of them off the backing to put them loose as a picture but they decided that the three we've got - a sand person, a stormtrooper and the Jawa - weren't crucial characters so they just left them on the card backs.

"He took them home and forgot about them [and] brought them in [to us] because he thought they might be worth a little bit, he had no clue."

Mr Torode said he had read about and seen pictures of the rare caped figure, and when he checked the details on his computer he "just started shaking" when he realised it was "the one".

After the sale he said it was a toy auction record for the company.

The owner gave the auction house three figures to sell from the same time period and the other two one of the sand people and a stormtrooper - sold for £600 and £300 respectively