{"id":43660,"date":"2018-04-26T05:34:05","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T12:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.originalprop.com\/blog\/?p=43660"},"modified":"2026-05-02T05:55:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T12:55:32","slug":"exclusive-details-photos-original-han-solo-blaster-movie-prop-from-return-of-the-jedi-to-be-sold-by-juliens-auctions-in-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.originalprop.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/26\/exclusive-details-photos-original-han-solo-blaster-movie-prop-from-return-of-the-jedi-to-be-sold-by-juliens-auctions-in-june\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive Details & Photos: Original Han Solo Blaster Movie Prop from Return of the Jedi to be Sold by Julien’s Auctions in June"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Exclusive<\/a><\/p>\n

Today, Julien’s Auctions has announced that an original Han Solo blaster movie prop used in Return of the Jedi<\/em> will be in their upcoming Hollywood Legends auction at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on June 23rd. \u00a0 The prop is one of the most exciting pieces to come to market from the original Star Wars trilogy in years, and it is a highlight of “The James L. Schoppe Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Production Archive”, with the entire collection coming directly from the Academy Award nominated Art Director who worked on the film.\u00a0 The Original Prop Blog is pleased to present exclusive photos of the prop as well as some additional background about the collection from my having worked with Julien’s Auctions and Mr. Schoppe in preparing the collection for public exhibition and auction.<\/p>\n

As mentioned in past articles and in full disclosure, I do consulting work for Julien’s Auctions in the areas of authentication, cataloging and social media, so please take note of this fact in consideration of this feature and editorial.<\/p>\n

Also as a note of disclosure, I have zero stake in the financial outcome of this auction.\u00a0 I just wanted to make that clear, since I am in essence wearing two “hats” in talking about this auction in the context of publishing what is also a news feature here on the Original Prop Blog.\u00a0 I make attempts to be as transparent as possible so that people can have an understanding of my role in circumstances such as this and to provide context.<\/p>\n

This editorial is in fact possible as a direct result of my working with Julien’s Auctions on an exciting component of their upcoming Hollywood Legends auction in June, with their announcement today of “The James L. Schoppe Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Production Archive”.<\/p>\n

The highlight of this collection is an original Han Solo blaster, used by Harrison Ford in Return of the Jedi<\/em>.\u00a0 I am somehow still surprised when important pieces from the original Star Wars trilogy surface, and this is one of the most exciting pieces to come to public in some time.<\/p>\n

I have worked for the past month in helping Julien’s Auctions to catalog this collection.\u00a0 As a fan of Star Wars, it has been amazing for me personally to go through this archive and to be transported back in time 35 years to the making of this film that was so important to me as a child who was 10 years old at the time.<\/p>\n

Today’s formal announcement by Julien’s Auctions reveals only the top highlight of the auction – the Han Solo blaster – though more news and details will follow soon.<\/p>\n

James L. Schoppe<\/h2>\n

James L. Schoppe is an American production designer and art director, and he was credited as Art Director on Return of the Jedi<\/em> for which he was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction.<\/p>\n

Most active in the film industry throughout the 80s, Mr. Schoppe also worked as the Production Designer on films like Corvette Summer<\/em>, Being There<\/em>, Revenge of the Nerds<\/em>, Volunteers<\/em>, Gung Ho<\/em>, Over the Top<\/em>, Vice Versa<\/em>, and more.\u00a0 You can check out his full credits on IMdb<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With Return of the Jedi, his work was all done in the United States for external location shooting.\u00a0 This encompassed the Tatooine scenes in the first half of the film in Buttercup Valley, California and Yuma, Arizona as well as scenes shot for the second half of the film located on the Moon of Endor in Crescent City, California and the Redwood National Park in Del Norte County, California.<\/p>\n

“The James L. Schoppe Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Production Archive”<\/h2>\n

In helping to prepare this collection for auction, I had an opportunity to go through every piece of memorabilia that made up this archive as we went through to determine how to best break everything down into interesting lots for fans and collectors.<\/p>\n

With around 44 lots in total, they encompass a wide variety of production material including a massive archive of original production photographs, most never before seen by the public, most taken personally by James Schoppe with his own 35mm and Polaroid cameras (which will also be sold in this auction).\u00a0 Many of these are behind the scenes and candid photos featuring initial location scouting, construction sets like Jabba the Hutt’s massive sail barge and skiffs, shots in the Redwoods and more.<\/p>\n

Also included are production blueprints for key sets and vehicles.\u00a0 A variety of original maps made for the production, showing set and shooting locations.\u00a0 Memorandums, meeting notes and correspondence (many handwritten, so never before seen by fans), production script pages and changes, original call sheets, illustrations (including some original work from James Schoppe), schematics, press clippings, and other memorabilia, as well as a few props that were gifted to him from Peter Hancock, the Property Master on the production.<\/p>\n

It was actually an awesome experience for me, personally, as I may be the only person to have had an opportunity to go through the entire archive in detail, and have an appreciation for how much of the production process was captured.\u00a0 Even the archive of press clippings was quite fascinating to go through, as it included press local to the shooting locations, and it’s always interesting to read coverage that is contemporary (and most of it published during production, before the film was even released, when it was shooting under the cover of “Blue Harvest”) rather than reporting made in hindsight.<\/p>\n

I was honestly astonished at the amount of material saved by Mr. Schoppe…\u00a0 even things like a paper placemat from where most of the crew stayed during production for lodging, and an invite to the Blue Harvest wrap party.\u00a0 I’d wouldn’t be surprised if these are the only surviving examples of such things.<\/p>\n

Most interesting to me were the meeting notes and Western Union Telegrams and such that discussed the making of the film and the making of key decisions with regards to props, etc.\u00a0 Everything of course is a given now, but it was interesting to peek into the past to see how some things could have been handled differently.<\/p>\n

Overall, it was fascinating to take in how much was accomplished in putting the film together in such a relatively short amount of time.<\/p>\n

Talking with James Schoppe<\/h2>\n

I did have an opportunity to talk with Mr. Schoppe for some time about his work on the production and his collection.<\/p>\n

James taught at Loyola Marymount University (coincidentally where I received my master’s degree) prior to any work in film.\u00a0 He transitioned into film, and working on the film Being There<\/em>, he worked as Art Director and with Michael Haller as Production Designer, and Michael had previously worked on George Lucas’ THX 1138<\/em>, so that was his relationship that ultimately led to working on Return of the Jedi<\/em>, though James also worked on the pre-Star Wars film, Corvette Summer<\/em>, which starred Mark Hamill.<\/p>\n

James started working on Return of the Jedi <\/em>around December 1981, where everything was already well into production in England, and he received a tour of what was happening there at that time.<\/p>\n

One of the most interesting stories that James told me was with regards to the Scout Trooper \/ Biker Scout hold out blaster.\u00a0 One of these props is included in the auction, and in going through the paperwork and meeting notes, it sounded as though the original idea was to modify an existing “real world” pistol as had been done with most of the blasters in the prior films.\u00a0 Instead what was used was quite different.<\/p>\n

James said that the UK prop department had run out of time, so several of the local crew in the U.S. made wood mock ups of different designs for the Biker Scout blaster, and painted them black.\u00a0 George Lucas looked at them and choose the one that James had made, and it was sent to the creature shop where they made a mold and cast them.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the crew in the U.S. also made a lot of Ewok weapons, in addition to all of the Ewok props that were shipped from England.<\/p>\n

So how did James end up with the Han Solo blaster and a few other props?\u00a0 He said that after filming wrapped and everyone was packing up to leave in Crescent City, Peter Hancock (Property Master) came by his office to say thank you and good-bye, and at the end of the conversation Peter handed James the Han Solo blaster and a few other props and said he wanted him to have them or they’d be destroyed otherwise.<\/p>\n

James said at the end of filming, the feeling was that it was the end of Star Wars, as no one imagined any additional films would be made at the conclusion of the trilogy.\u00a0 And obviously that held true for many, many years.<\/p>\n

Han Solo Blaster<\/h2>\n

In addition to my help in cataloging the collection, I had a chance to personally check out the Han Solo blaster.<\/p>\n

As an aside, it was quite surreal, as when Return of the Jedi<\/em> came out in 1983 (when I was 10 years old), my family took a vacation up to Eureka to visit family, and we went to the Redwood Forrest and there was still a buzz from the locals about how Return of the Jedi<\/em> was filmed there…\u00a0 I remember my imagination ran wild, wondering if I might find Luke’s lightsaber or a blaster in the bushes as I walked among the giant redwood trees…<\/p>\n

So it was quite special, 35 years later, to hold Han Solo’s actual blaster in my hands.<\/p>\n

Mr. Schoppe saved a tremendous amount of production material, and my objective in cataloging the collection was “top down”.\u00a0 So as I reviewed documents and other material, if something pertained directly to the Han Solo blaster, I set it aside to include it in the same lot as the blaster prop.\u00a0 Anyone who reads the Original Prop Blog knows how much I value provenance and maintaining documentation and records along with the related prop or costume, so this was an opportunity to ensure that every document that supported the provenance and “story” of this prop will be sold with the prop.<\/p>\n

Multiple separate documents of unrelated origins all point to there having been three hero Han Solo blasters in total made for and used in Return of the Jedi<\/em>.\u00a0 After conducting further research, it would appear that there are four (one “practical”, three “non-firing”), so it might be a case in which the one plus two in these documents reference what was sent to the U.S. production, rather than the total made.<\/p>\n

One is the “practical” (blank fire) version that was prepared for such effects by Stembridge Gun Rentals.\u00a0 This version would have been used in scenes in which Harrison Ford as Han Solo would fire the blaster, and a weapons coordinator would have been on set for such use for safety reasons.\u00a0 I asked James about this, and he recollected that it was Syd Stembridge personally who was the weapons handler.<\/p>\n

As I documented back in 2007, this “practical” Han Solo blaster resurfaced at that time and was part of the Little John\u2019s Auction Service event featuring the “World Famous Stembridge Armory Collection”.\u00a0 This was an interesting event in that there was no real marketing to movie prop collectors, and myself and just a handful of others at the time were aware of the auction.\u00a0 I had at that time recounted my experience being in the auction room when this piece was sold, at the time for just a little over $200,000:\u00a0 LINK<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Getting back to the James Schoppe collection, documentation states that there were two additional Han Solo blasters made for and used in the production (in addition to the “practical” version just discussed above), which were “non-firing” versions built on replica MGC models of the Mauser-type of pistol, and that these came from the UK.\u00a0 But based on known photographs of the “MGC” type (German Mauser C96 “Broomhandle Mauser” from MGC (Model Gun Corporation) of Japan) non-firing versions, it would appear that there are three distinctly different copies: one seen in the Magic of Myth book, one seen in archive photos first published here on the Original Prop Blog (EXCLUSIVE: 237 Lost\/Unpublished Historic Star Wars and Indiana Jones Movie Prop Photos from the Lucasfim Archives from 1996\/1997)<\/a> and this one saved by James Schoppe from his work on the film.\u00a0 So it would appear that there are four known and identified hero Han Solo blasters made for Return of the Jedi<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It was really interesting to examine this piece, as not all key weapons in the Star Wars Original Trilogy are at Lucasfilm and well photographed.\u00a0 Expert collectors who have over the years identified various “found part” greblies and such added on to the base gun have actually provided great insight into what an original might look like.\u00a0 But to hold it in my hands and examine it was quite remarkable.\u00a0 As an example, I had no idea that the part that makes the back of the scope was transparent and painted black.\u00a0 There were just so many little details that made sense, but it was so interesting to have a chance to really examine it – it’s really a work of art in its own right.<\/p>\n

In my discussion with James, he explained that the prop was damaged at some point during filming – he believes it may have occurred in pulling the prop out of the holster or holstering the piece – and part of the scope was damaged.<\/p>\n

But I am obviously very excited about the fact that this piece still exists, has been well cared for and preserved over the years, and has surfaced so that the public can see it and that it will end up being preserved so that it will still exist for future generations.\u00a0 Because when it comes down to it, the fact that it is a piece with a high collectible value, it will be well preserved.<\/p>\n

Below is a list of the material that will be included with the prop when it sells at auction:<\/p>\n