Star Wars costume sketchbooks to fetch large sums at auction

A sketchbook of early costume designs for the Star Wars films is expected to sell for more than $130,000 at an auction in London next week, according to Reuters.

Drawn by Oscar-winning costume designer John Mollo, the colored pencil sketches revealed early designs for famous characters in the Star Wars films such as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.

There are four sketchbooks by Mollo to go up for auction next Tuesday, including his designs for the Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back. In an interview with Reuters, Katherine Schofield from Bonhams auction house said it is very rare to see anything like this come up at auction. "To have something of this magnitude, of this scale, from the estate of somebody who worked on the film and was so important to the film that he won an Academy Award for it, is really exciting," she added.

Items related to the Star Wars films are highly sought-after at auctions. It was reported that a complete R2-D2 droid used in the 1977 film was sold for $2.76 million last year.