Peter Mayhew’s Wife Wants ‘Star Wars’ Memorabilia Back From Auction

The wife of late Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew is hoping that an auction house in the UK will return some of his “Star Wars” memorabilia.

Born in May 1944, the 7’2” actor played Chewbacca in all of his on-screen appearances from the 1977 original “Star Wars: A New Hope” to 2015’s “The Force Awakens,” where he ceded the role to 6’11” Finnish actor Joonas Suotamo.

Unfortunately, Mayhew passed away on April 30, 2019. It seems that some of his memorabilia, especially from the original trilogy, wound up at an auction block in the UK, and his widow, Angie Mayhew, wants to see them returned.

On Thursday, Peter Mayhew’s widow, Angie Mayhew, spoke to TMZ about the situation. She said that an auction house in the U.K. has “a ton” of “Star Wars” memorabilia that once belonged to the late actor, “including scripts, call sheets, signed photos, and more.”

Apparently, a couple found the memorabilia in Mayhew’s old home in northern England when they were cleaning out the attic. They then passed over the collection to Ryedale Auctioneers, claiming that they did not know that the memorabilia once belonged to the late Peter Mayhew.

Angie Mayhew told TMZ that they, unfortunately, had to leave the boxes of memorabilia behind when they were moving out of the home. Peter had been struggling with serious knee issues at the time and was reportedly unable to make his way into the attic. Similarly, Angie said that Peter didn’t want her to risk serious injury heading up there, either.

Angie told the outlet that Peter took as much memorabilia with him as he could, but was forced to leave the rest. She called leaving all those “Star Wars” treasures behind one of the “biggest disappoints” of her and Peter’s life.

On Tuesday, Angie Mayhew saw that Ryedale Auctioneers had put up the items for auctions. She contacted the auction house through her foundation, the Peter Mayhew Foundation, but it does not seem as though she’s heard back yet.

Angie Mayhew is hoping that the auction house will return the items so that the Peter Mayhew Foundation can put them on display at the family’s Chewbacca-themed museum in Texas. As of right now, the items are scheduled to go up for auction next week on Friday, February 17, and Saturday, February 18.

Earlier this week, on February 7, BBC’s Jon Kay noticed the items going up for auction. He tweeted, “How cool is this stuff? Found in the loft of the late Peter Mayhew who played Chewbacca in the original #StarWars films. Scripts, call-sheets and clippings now being sold by @RyedaleAuction1 @BBCBreakfast."

Through the Peter Mayhew Foundation, Angie tweeted back, "When we moved out of this house Peter's movement challenges made it impossible for him to get into the attic to get the rest of these memories. It really breaks my heart to see our belongings auctioned off like this by @angusashworth and @RyedaleAuction1. ~Angie Mayhew."

She also retweeted an article about the couple who sold the items to the auction house, writing, "It was one of Peter's and my biggest regrets that we had to leave these items behind, but his knees and joints had gotten to be so painful that he was no longer able to go into the attic to get them."

When a fan asked why someone else couldn't have removed them, Angie tweeted, "We had just come from a convention Peter had appeared at and there had been a water leak so Peter didn't want me to go up there either and we ran out of time. Moving in general is stressful but moving between countries with a 7'4" disabled partner, it was a very difficult time."

Many fans have expressed hope that the auction house will return the items for all "Star Wars" fans to enjoy.