Those of us who love movies would gladly part with a decent amount of cash to own a piece of film history. Most of us don't have the money to spend that somebody just did to pick up one of the most iconic items in all of cinema. Recently an anonymous bidder purchased a complete R2-D2 at auction that was used in the original films. As one might expect, it did not come cheap. Of course, most of us would never have stood a chance in a bidding war with this person, as the item finally went for $2.76 million.
What makes this particular R2-D2 unique is that the item is both an actual movie prop, and something that was never technically seen on screen. According to Entertainment Weekly, the complete R2-D2 that went in a Southern California auction was made up of numerous different pieces that were all used in different films. In total, the R2 model covers Star Wars: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, The Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace, and Attack of the Clones, so this isn't simply a piece of movie history. It's actually a piece of the entire franchise history. At this point you have to wonder if there's a piece of R2 from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith out there someplace that one could buy just to make the model complete and cover both trilogies.
The $2.76 million selling price exceeded the auction house's estimates, which were between $1million and $2 million. The buyer was anonymous so we don't know anything about them, other than the fact that they can drop nearly $3 million on an R2-D2. In the grand scheme of things, the number of people in the world who can do that is fairly small.
Has anybody checked with Paul Allen? The co-founder of Microsoft certainly has the bank account to support the purchase, and he helped found a science fiction museum in Seattle, so it's just the sort of thing he might buy. Keep an eye out, R2 could show up in Washington.
While most of us are never going to own an actual R2-D2, we can probably relate with whoever now does. A real life prop used in some of the most popular movies ever made? Any Star Wars fan would go nuts just getting a chance to see the thing, nevermind actually owning it. Whoever has it, we can only hope that they'll put it on display someplace where the public can see it, rather than just sitting in a room in some mansion. Though if I did own it, R2 would get his own room. I'll sleep on the sofa.
What piece of film history would you spend $3 million on, assuming you had it, of course. Let us know in the comments.
