Vectis

With estimates from £50-12,000, here are five previews from upcoming sales this week.

A signed hardback copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, plus other associated memorabilia, will be offered at Vectis Auctions in Stockton-on-Tees.

A small piece of Star Wars action figure history comes for sale at Vectis Auctions in Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees next month.

In the race to offer increasingly collectable more modern toys such as Lego and Star Wars, a lot dating from 1896 sold at a Teesside auction shows older items are still in the running when rarity and condition are just right.

Hero worship is not just a modern-day phenomenon. Back in 1915, Charlie Chapman was so impressed by a fan letter he received that he sent a personal reply.

The Star Wars universe is growing.

Unless you have been in a galaxy far, far away for quite some time, you will have heard of Luke Skywalker, Ewoks and Han Solo. But have you heard of a Vlix?

Here are five of ATG's ‘best of the best’ picks of the week from 2016 – all remarkable both for their price and the stories they tell.

It might not be a Bag for Life but this plastic bag has set a collector back £240.

A new record for a Star Wars production figure was established at Vectis' latest sale when a French issue of Boba Fett, the memorable bit-part character in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, sold for £21,000.

The Rocket Firing Boba Fett has assumed legendary status among Star Wars collectors. Modelled in grey-blue plastic in advance of mass production by the Kenner factory in Ohio, it would forever remain a prototype figure.

Jo Wood, model, entrepreneur, dancer and ex-wife of Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, has consigned a collection to auction which is a world away from rock and roll excesses.

The toy ripped open from plastic and cardboard may bring joy to a child – but it is the simple packaging that makes the big money when that child becomes a collector with an eye on pounds, not play value.

Is this the rarest of all Star Wars figures? The figure known by collectors as the Vinyl Cape Jawa was one of the original series of a dozen figures that accompanied the release of the film in 1978 (jawas are the hooded creatures with glowing eyes who buy and sell droids).