Rare collection of Star Wars memorabilia goes under the hammer at Wessex Auction Rooms

• The memorabilia will be sold at auction as is valued at around £50,000.

A Star Wars superfan from Wiltshire is selling his collection of memorabilia, which is expected to fetch tens of thousands of pounds at auction.

Luke Kaye, who changed his name to Luke Skywalker by deed pole, has been collecting pieces for decades and has been storing them in a warehouse as well as at his home in Swindon.

He now owns thousands of items that have links to the Star Wars films as well as other blockbusters like Alien and Battlestar Galactica.

230 of his most valuable pieces will be going under the hammer at Wessex Auction Rooms near Chippenham on Friday 6 December.

• Luke Kaye tells ITV News West Country how he came to accumulate such a huge collection of memorabilia.

The collection includes a custom-made Luke Skywalker Helmet signed by members of the cast including Mark Hamill who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise.

A full-size R2-D2 and C-3PO will also be part of the auction and are expected to fetch around a thousand pounds each, as well as a Jedi lightsaber made and signed by 'Saber Master' Norman Harrison. Although the lightsaber was not used on camera during filming, is was considered a back-up prop and could fetch up to £6,000.

The collection also includes memorabilia from other films including Terminator, Batman, Flash Gordon and E.T.

Luke Kaye has spent decades building his collection, starting when he was just a teenager after watching the first Star Wars film in Weymouth.

He said: "My mum took me to see Star Wars when I was 13, and as soon as I came out of the cinema we went straight to the toy shop and I bought some Star Wars figures.

"When I was 17, I bought a Storm Trooper outfit and then I had to have a Darth Vader outfit and then I started working in the industry and I was supplying film costumes to 20th Century Fox Films, and it went on from there.

"Instead of buying a car, because I've never had a car, I would by that Star Wars item or that costume, it's been all my life."

He said his collection also has film merchandise signed by the actors.

"I was chasing them all over the UK, and even abroad, for a signature and we sort of all became friends then," he added.

Luke won't be selling his entire collection and will keep some of his favourite items at home.

He said: "I'm not selling absolutely everything, I've kept some pieces that mean something to me, for instance I've got a Luke Skywalker signed lightsaber, and Mark Hamill signed a blast shield helmet for me."

Luke also explained why he decided to part with such a large part of the collection he has been accumulating over the years.

He said: "The problem is, it got out of hand and I had to have a warehouse to store it. Of course in a cold warehouse, some of the masks were perishing and I was thinking they really need to be in a nice warm place somewhere."

Luke said he hopes whoever buys the items next can get as much enjoyment from them as he has.