Bidders will hope the force is with them this weekend as an array of Star Wars toys go under the hammer on Saturday.
Anyone with an A-Z knowledge of R2D2, C-3PO and their X, Y and B-wings will head to Taylor’s Auction Rooms in Montrose, where more than 100 lots will be on offer.
The majority of the toys are from the late 1990s onwards and mirror the growing interest in the space opera during the prequels.
Interest in the franchise is once again hot, with the release later this year of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
On auction will be a universal range of action figures, alien creatures, spacecraft, battle packs and models.
Many are from the less-revered prequels, but there is also a wide variety of creations drawn from across the Star Wars canon, including the Clone Wars and 30th anniversary releases.
Almost everything on sale is from one private seller, in its original packaging and in mint condition.
Most of the items will be sold in sets or groups, rather than individually, with estimates ranging from £10-20 to £40-60 per lot.Taylor’s will be open for viewing from 10am to 8pm on Friday. Viewing on the day is from 9am, with the sale beginning at 10am.The lots form part of what is one of Taylor’s largest and busiest sales of the year.
Many other toys, model kits and LPs are also expected to attract strong interest.
While the majority of the Angus lots are from more recent times, a sale in England on Wednesday showed how the right toys can soar in value over the years.
Boxes of unsold and unwanted Action Man and Star Wars toys that lay untouched in a retired salesman’s garage for decades made more than £150,000 when they came up for auction in Teesside.
One collector paid £5,400 for a rare Action Man judo outfit, while publicity photos for a Boba Fett toy made more than £2,300 when the estimate had been £40-60.
Another bidder even paid £160 for an empty cardboard box in which Star Wars figures had been packaged at the Palitoy factory.
When Palitoy ceased trading, sales rep Doug Carpenter was allowed to keep unsold stock.
Now 88, he and wife Daphne handed it all over to their son Paul, 51, to sell after the family heard about a Boba Fett figure, untouched in its pristine box, had sold for £18,000 earlier this year.
Kathy Taylor, a valuer for Vectis Auctions in Thornaby, Teesside, said: “I cannot believe the amount of interest there has been.
She said: “It was unbelievable to see all the boxes coming out with stock that was factory fresh, which hadn’t been opened.”
Vectis encouraged Mr Carpenter to throw nothing away, as even factory notes, boxes and invoices have a value to collectors.
Ms Taylor said: “Factories sent toys out in what were called trade cartons and these, from the 1970s and 1980s, can be very rare.
“For a collector to own a trade carton, even if it is empty, is a big bit of history to them.”