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A Death Star gun tower model miniature autographed by miniature and optical effects unit model builder Lorne Peterson with an attached film sticker from George Lucas' Star Wars: A New Hope. The Death Star's gun towers blasted at Rebel pilots targeting its reactor system.

This textured, dense foam gun tower comes from Peterson's collection. It is painted gray with plastic guns, autographed by Peterson in black marker on the underside, and affixed on the side with a color "The Star Wars" sticker. The sticker was applied by a model maker after filming before the tower was gifted to Peterson. This lot exhibits glue residue, grime, scratches, and fading paint. Dimensions: 3.5" x 4.5" x 7.5" (9 cm x 11.5 cm x 19 cm)

Renowned visual effects artist Lorne Peterson was born in 1944 in Vancouver, Canada. While designing whimsical playground equipment for McDonald's, Peterson was invited by fellow model maker John Dykstra to work in the miniature and optical effects department of George Lucas' Star Wars: A New Hope, where he helped design and build the Star Destroyers, Imperial TIE fighters, and other classic vehicles. During pre-production on the film, Peterson, Dykstra, and their cohort of fellow artists working under Lucas co-founded effects company Industrial Light & Magic. In later years, ILM would provide groundbreaking visual effects for many of the most successful franchises in the history of American cinema, including Star Wars, Back to the Future, and Ghostbusters, among many others.

As ILM's chief model maker, Peterson's models were instrumental to the successes of the first six Star Wars films, as well as a variety of other blockbuster hits, including Jurassic Park, Hulk, and his former ILM colleague Joe Johnston's own Jumanji. In 1985, Peterson and fellow ILM artists Dennis Muren, Michael J. McAlister, and George Gibbs received an Academy Award® for Best Visual Effects for their work on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, one of several projects for director Steven Spielberg. In celebration of this pioneering 40-plus-year career, Propstore is proud to present a selection of key memorabilia from the personal collection of Lorne Peterson to the public for the first time.

Estimate: $8,000 - 16,000

View all lots from STAR WARS: EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE (1977)

View all lots from STAR WARS - ALL ITEMS