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A stormtrooper (sandtrooper) costume from George Lucas' Star Wars: A New Hope. Sandtroopers, or stormtroopers equipped for the desert, were stationed on Luke Skywalker's (Mark Hamill) home planet of Tatooine. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) successfully used his Jedi mind tricks to convince a platoon of sandtroopers that "these are not the droids you're looking for."
Stormtroopers were part of George Lucas' earliest concepts for Star Wars and played prominently in each film of the original Star Wars trilogy. Lucas conveyed his concept to seminal designer Ralph McQuarrie, who memorialised them in a series of concept sketches and production paintings. The costumes were realised for the film by the UK production team, which included costume designer John Mollo, sculptors Liz Moore and Brian Muir, and plastic-former Andrew Ainsworth.
The first stormtrooper costumes assembled for the film were six sandtroopers that were sent for filming in Tunisia, where filming began. Production then made additional costumes that became known as standard Imperial stormtroopers. The initial six sandtroopers differed from the later-made stormtroopers in several ways: the torso armour had flat shoulder straps rather than ribbed; the belly plate was simpler, without a series of raised buttons; and the lower left leg featured a diamond-shaped knee plate.
This costume is comprised of fifteen original components: wrap-around torso armour, left and right arm assemblies consisting of shoulder, bicep, and forearm pieces, left and right leg assemblies consisting of upper and lower leg armours, a screen-matched belt and holster rig, a rear canister or "thermal detonator," a full-body under suit (with incorporated hole to facilitate the performer relieving themselves), and accompanying balaclava. Also included for display are replica components including boots, gloves with hand armour, a neck seal, a helmet (moulded from an original), and an orange sandtrooper shoulder pauldron.
The A New Hope torso components were assembled in a manner unique to this film-metal bars were mounted to the interior via small screws and elastic was attached to join the sections. At some point during production, likely for the rigours of promotion, the small screws along the bottom of the chest plate were replaced with larger screws and washers. The costume's right arm is marked "Right Arm" on the interior and the right thigh piece is labelled "Right."
The costume's leather gun holster screen-matches to the opening scenes when Darth Vader (David Prowse) and his stormtroopers boarded Princess Leia's (Carrie Fisher) ship Tantive IV. The two hanging belt boxes are wrapped with gaffer's tape; similar tape-wrapped boxes are seen in several screen stills and production photos.
This costume was used to promote the film upon its 1977 release in UK cinemas, after which it was retained by the performer. The left forearm and bicep plates were acquired at a later date and are from an original The Empire Strikes Back stormtrooper costume.
The costume exhibits light wear from production and age, and some paint loss, but remains in remarkable overall condition. A separation in the plastic of the codpiece has been sympathetically reinforced from the inside, and there is a small missing piece of plastic from the top of the left knee plate. This is the only sandtrooper costume known to still exist, making this a unique opportunity to own a significant part of Star Wars cinematic history.
Estimate: £250,000 - 500,000 M
View all lots from STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE (1977)
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