Vintage Return of the Jedi Hanging Store Display (With Imperial Shuttle & Jabba’s Palace Characters)

I first saw one of these displays on eBay a year or two ago, but the one up for auction was almost totally destroyed and the seller wanted a lot for it, so I passed. But I did look into it at the time and found that it was apparently used during the release of Return of the Jedi on VHS, which would match the 1986 copyright date found on it. My hunch is that the display was geared more toward video stores. VHS versions of movies were quite expensive just after their release, so the number of people actually buying them for themselves would probably be relatively small.

The display is made of cardboard and comes in several pieces. There’s the imperial shuttle, which is completely flat if viewed from the front, and the centerpiece with the ROTJ movie artwork on it, which attaches to the bottom through various slots and tabs. Then there are three hangers: Jabba the Hutt, a Gamorrean Guard and Salacious Crumb. These attach to the corners of the triangular centerpiece, but I’m not sure if there’s a particular place each character was supposed to go. So naturally, I put Jabba in front.

The artwork used for the hanging characters looks kind of familiar, but it might just be because it’s based on the usual publicity stills. Jabba is a bit wrinkled, unfortunately.

These displays are relatively hard to find — especially in good condition — but they aren’t nearly as valuable as the displays that were used for the vintage toys. Those can go for thousands in some cases, but this is closer to the $75-$100 range, depending on condition. That makes it a nice display piece for someone who wants a vintage-looking display but may not want to sink such a large amount into it.