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A high-altitude Death Star surface model miniature panel from George Lucas' Star Wars: A New Hope signed by miniature and optical effects unit model builder Lorne Peterson. Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) designed and constructed this panel for the vast miniature Death Star set, specifically for shots where Rebel fighters flew close to its massive surface. Pieces of the set were later given out to attendees at the premiere of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

This biscuit foam panel comes from Peterson's collection. It is decorated with cast greeblies, finished in industrial gray paint, and signed on the underside in black marker by Peterson. The foam exhibits some scuffing and paint flaking from production use and age. Dimensions: 6.5" x 6.5" x 1" (16.5 cm x 16.5 cm x 2.5 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: $4,000 - 8,000

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

View all lots from STAR WARS - ALL ITEMS