Paul Allen’s estate donates Vader helmet among thousands of items to MoPop
Jul 26, 2023, 12:48 PM
The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPop) in Seattle is receiving thousands of new artifacts as the estate of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is donating the Darth Vader helmet from “The Empire Strikes Back” among other iconic film props and music memorabilia set to be on display.
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The other items gifted to Mo-Pop include a Star Trek Captain’s chair, a hat worn by the Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz,” and a full alien creature suit from the 1979 film “Alien.” The donations included a local item — a hand-painted and smashed Univox electric guitar owned by Kurt Cobain.
Not included in the above gallery are handwritten lyrics by David Bowie for “Starman” from the early 1970s and a 1951 Epiphone FT 79 acoustic guitar owned by Jimi Hendrix.
Some of the items are already on display in current MoPop exhibits, including Infinite Worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy: Worlds of Myth & Magic, Scared to Death: The Thrill of Horror Film, and Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses.
According to KIRO 7, MoPop has more than 80,000 items in its collection.
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Earlier this year, MoPop announced its iconic “Pearl Jam: Home and Away” exhibit — a collection that features more than 700 artifacts from the band’s history — would be closing this year. The exhibit drew more than two million visitors since its 2018 debut, according to MoPop.
