Original Jabba the Hutt Maquette by Phil Tippett Up for Auction

I posted about this maquette back in 2011. It’s the original maquette that Phil Tippett created to show George Lucas to get his approval on the Jabba design. This is apparently a casting of the original sculpture that Tippett did, but the original and the mold have both been destroyed, making this the only surviving version of the piece. It would also be the very first incarnation of Jabba as we know him.

This statue had appeared in a Profiles in History auction at the end of 2010, and at the time, the estimated selling price was between $30,000 and $50,000. As far as I know it didn’t sell. Now Profiles is selling it again with a starting price of $12,000, and they even have it up on eBay. It’s not a normal eBay auction, however. It’s part of a live auction event, which I guess means that your bid on eBay would be used as a proxy bid during the live auction. It also means you have to pay a buyer’s premium of 28% on top of whatever the final price is. It’s definitely way out of my price range, but it would be an amazing addition to the collection of a well-heeled Star Wars collector. As of this writing, there is around 8 days left in the auction. If someone reading this ends up buying it, I’d love to interview you about it.