It seems that legendary comic book issues aren’t the only thing rich collectors are after at auction in recent weeks. The camera that George Lucas used to film the original ‘Star Wars’ (I refused to call it ‘Episode IV’ or ‘A New Hope’, thank you very much.) in 1977 sold this past weekend at auction for $625,000, making it the world record sale for a movie camera.
The auction was held by Debbie Reynolds Hollywood memorabilia and Profiles in History. The winning bid got, not only the restored and fully-functional camera but also a full filming package including: two 1000-foot magazines of film, a Panaspeed motor, matte box, follow focus, Moy geared head, and an Italian-made Elemack camera dolly and lens.
There were several cameras used on the filming of ‘Star Wars’, including the retooled Vistavision cameras used for those amazing miniature FX shots, but this one is the one used for the majority of principal photography with the actors involved. There’s no word on who placed the winning bid but I’d love to see this piece end up in a film museum somewhere so that it can be enjoyed by film-lovers in perpetuity.
