This is an original Stormtrooper helmet from the 1977 landmark blockbuster, Star Wars A New Hope. This is one of the iconic designs of modern cinema and instantly recognizable the world over. It started life as a concept drawing by Ralph McQuarrie and, after input from costume designer John Mollo, the helmets were fabricated by Andrew Ainsworth in the early part of 1976.

The vast majority of the helmets for the first movie were constructed from HDPE, a green/grey coloured material which at that time was being used by Ainsworth to make liners for garden fish ponds. It had to be painted white for filming and the results were far from ideal as the paint did not adhere well to the plastic. 50 of these helmets were made and they have since become referred to as “stunt” helmets because the close up Stormtrooper helmets, along with those used by Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford were made at a later time from white ABS. (6 of these “hero” helmets were made in total).